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| 'Oslo is dead: time for a fresh start' | 'Oslo is dead: time for a fresh start' |
| (4 months later) | |
| Diplomatic initiatives to advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace have been launched and sunk for as long as the conflict has been going on. Now an attempt to break the impasse is being made by a group of leading Europeans who are convinced that the time has come to speak some harsh truths out loud — and change the rules of the game. | Diplomatic initiatives to advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace have been launched and sunk for as long as the conflict has been going on. Now an attempt to break the impasse is being made by a group of leading Europeans who are convinced that the time has come to speak some harsh truths out loud — and change the rules of the game. |
| Elements of the appeal include recognizing the following: the 1991 Madrid and 1993 Oslo agreements — the latter between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization — are moribund. Solutions based on the West Bank but excluding the Gaza Strip while perpetuating the split between the PLO and Hamas, will not work. The EU, long derided as a "payer but not a player," must have a more equal role alongside the US. The Palestinian territories are under occupation. A "peace process" that maintains and finances the status quo must end. | Elements of the appeal include recognizing the following: the 1991 Madrid and 1993 Oslo agreements — the latter between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization — are moribund. Solutions based on the West Bank but excluding the Gaza Strip while perpetuating the split between the PLO and Hamas, will not work. The EU, long derided as a "payer but not a player," must have a more equal role alongside the US. The Palestinian territories are under occupation. A "peace process" that maintains and finances the status quo must end. |
| "We wanted to declare the emperor clotheslesss as far as the Oslo-Madrid process was concerned," explained Sir Jeremy Greenstock, a former British ambassador to the UN and one of 19 signatories of the appeal by the European Eminent Persons Group on the Middle East peace process. "Whatever his rhetoric Barack Obama has not done anything significantly different from George Bush on this issue. We wanted to say with emphasis: 'It's time for a fresh start.'" | "We wanted to declare the emperor clotheslesss as far as the Oslo-Madrid process was concerned," explained Sir Jeremy Greenstock, a former British ambassador to the UN and one of 19 signatories of the appeal by the European Eminent Persons Group on the Middle East peace process. "Whatever his rhetoric Barack Obama has not done anything significantly different from George Bush on this issue. We wanted to say with emphasis: 'It's time for a fresh start.'" |
| Signatories include Michel Rocard, Guiliano Amato, Hubert Vedrine, Javier Solana, John Bruton, Wolfgang Ischinger and other European luminaries. American heavyweights like Henry Kissinger, James Baker and Brent Scowcroft also back the appeal— helping narrow the often yawning gap between the old and new continents. US secretary of state John Kerry, they hope, will take note. | Signatories include Michel Rocard, Guiliano Amato, Hubert Vedrine, Javier Solana, John Bruton, Wolfgang Ischinger and other European luminaries. American heavyweights like Henry Kissinger, James Baker and Brent Scowcroft also back the appeal— helping narrow the often yawning gap between the old and new continents. US secretary of state John Kerry, they hope, will take note. |
| Greenstock says:"With Kerry rethinking what the Americans might do - but not yet having any clear sign that his president will support him to the hilt - there is the possibility of room for the Europeans to do some John the Baptist work, on (Palestinian) reconciliation, on reforming funding arrangements for the Palestinians, of contact with the Arab League and Qatar and others that the Americans might not want to be seen to be doing in the early stages." | Greenstock says:"With Kerry rethinking what the Americans might do - but not yet having any clear sign that his president will support him to the hilt - there is the possibility of room for the Europeans to do some John the Baptist work, on (Palestinian) reconciliation, on reforming funding arrangements for the Palestinians, of contact with the Arab League and Qatar and others that the Americans might not want to be seen to be doing in the early stages." |
| The statement, sent to Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, is carefully worded for maximum support, with some significant ideas hinted at rather than spelled out. But the overall message is blunt: | The statement, sent to Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, is carefully worded for maximum support, with some significant ideas hinted at rather than spelled out. But the overall message is blunt: |
| It is time to give a stark warning that the occupation is actually being entrenched by present western policy. The Palestinian Authority cannot survive without leaning on Israeli security assistance and western funding and, since the PA offers little hope of progress towards self-determination for the Palestinian people, it is fast losing respect and support from its domestic constituency. The steady increase in the extent and population of Israeli settlements, including in East Jerusalem, and the entrenchment of Israeli control over the OT in defiance of international law, indicate a permanent trend towards a complete dislocation of Palestinian territorial rights. We have reached the conclusion that there must be a new approach. Letting the situation lie unaddressed is highly dangerous when such an explosive issue sits in such a turbulent environment. | It is time to give a stark warning that the occupation is actually being entrenched by present western policy. The Palestinian Authority cannot survive without leaning on Israeli security assistance and western funding and, since the PA offers little hope of progress towards self-determination for the Palestinian people, it is fast losing respect and support from its domestic constituency. The steady increase in the extent and population of Israeli settlements, including in East Jerusalem, and the entrenchment of Israeli control over the OT in defiance of international law, indicate a permanent trend towards a complete dislocation of Palestinian territorial rights. We have reached the conclusion that there must be a new approach. Letting the situation lie unaddressed is highly dangerous when such an explosive issue sits in such a turbulent environment. |
The call for a reconsideration of funding arrangements for Palestine clearly implies the oft-mooted idea that the PA, under an increasingly feeble Mahmoud Abbas, no longer serves a purpose other than providing the "prison" the Israelis have built or serving as "sub-contractor" for their own security. | The call for a reconsideration of funding arrangements for Palestine clearly implies the oft-mooted idea that the PA, under an increasingly feeble Mahmoud Abbas, no longer serves a purpose other than providing the "prison" the Israelis have built or serving as "sub-contractor" for their own security. |
| Greenstock is upbeat about "below-the radar" diplomacy involving Egypt and Turkey to promote reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls Gaza. Hamas, he argues, can live with the requirement that participants in negotiations must renounce the use of violence. Aware of profound Israeli doubts on this point, he also recalls Hamas's declared readiness for "mutual recognition" at the end of negotiations. | Greenstock is upbeat about "below-the radar" diplomacy involving Egypt and Turkey to promote reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, the Islamist movement which controls Gaza. Hamas, he argues, can live with the requirement that participants in negotiations must renounce the use of violence. Aware of profound Israeli doubts on this point, he also recalls Hamas's declared readiness for "mutual recognition" at the end of negotiations. |
| Looking to Europe Greenstock argues that his old employers at the British foreign office are "too uncourageous in thinking differently from the Americans" - a familiar lament from those with experience of UK policy in the Middle East. On Israeli-Palestinian questions in the EU, Britain still lines up cautiously with the Germans, the Dutch and the Czechs. And this, he reflects, is how it works: | Looking to Europe Greenstock argues that his old employers at the British foreign office are "too uncourageous in thinking differently from the Americans" - a familiar lament from those with experience of UK policy in the Middle East. On Israeli-Palestinian questions in the EU, Britain still lines up cautiously with the Germans, the Dutch and the Czechs. And this, he reflects, is how it works: |
Number 10 (Downing Street) tends to say 'don't use up brownie points with the Americans when I, the prime minister, need them for other things.' Gordon Brown did that with David Miliband. Jack Straw wasn't trying it. Margaret Beckett didn't want to get into this sort of thing. Miliband did but was constrained by Brown. William Hague doesn't want to make difficulties because he knows that if he started like Kerry down this line he would need Cameron at some point and I don't see that there is any looser a rein from number 10 than there was in the Gordon Brown period. | Number 10 (Downing Street) tends to say 'don't use up brownie points with the Americans when I, the prime minister, need them for other things.' Gordon Brown did that with David Miliband. Jack Straw wasn't trying it. Margaret Beckett didn't want to get into this sort of thing. Miliband did but was constrained by Brown. William Hague doesn't want to make difficulties because he knows that if he started like Kerry down this line he would need Cameron at some point and I don't see that there is any looser a rein from number 10 than there was in the Gordon Brown period. |
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