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| Martin Indyk Cites Israeli-Palestinian Distrust | Martin Indyk Cites Israeli-Palestinian Distrust |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| WASHINGTON — Martin S. Indyk announced his departure from Middle East peacemaking last week with a post on Twitter that said he was “battered but unbowed.” When that prompted questions from people curious about why he felt that way, he replied that if they knew anything about the nine months of negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, “you wouldn’t have to ask why.” | WASHINGTON — Martin S. Indyk announced his departure from Middle East peacemaking last week with a post on Twitter that said he was “battered but unbowed.” When that prompted questions from people curious about why he felt that way, he replied that if they knew anything about the nine months of negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians, “you wouldn’t have to ask why.” |
| Mr. Indyk, a seasoned and well-connected diplomat who is trading his State Department suite for his old perch at the Brookings Institution, knows people will not stop asking him for a post-mortem on the Obama administration’s latest failed effort to broker peace. So he offers an explanation that can be distilled into a single word: distrust. | Mr. Indyk, a seasoned and well-connected diplomat who is trading his State Department suite for his old perch at the Brookings Institution, knows people will not stop asking him for a post-mortem on the Obama administration’s latest failed effort to broker peace. So he offers an explanation that can be distilled into a single word: distrust. |
| “It’s the distrust between the leaders and between the people that holds us up and makes it difficult,” he said in his first interview after resigning as special envoy for Israel-Palestinian negotiations. | “It’s the distrust between the leaders and between the people that holds us up and makes it difficult,” he said in his first interview after resigning as special envoy for Israel-Palestinian negotiations. |
| “There’s so much water under the bridge, so much skepticism, so much distrust and lack of confidence,” he said. “The difficulties we faced were far more because of the 20 years of distrust that built up” than because of the core issues that divide the two sides. | “There’s so much water under the bridge, so much skepticism, so much distrust and lack of confidence,” he said. “The difficulties we faced were far more because of the 20 years of distrust that built up” than because of the core issues that divide the two sides. |
| That distrust has hardened further with the discovery of the bodies of three missing Israeli teenagers in the West Bank this week, and what was possibly the revenge killing of an Arab teenager on Wednesday. Israeli officials blame the militant group Hamas for the killing of the Israeli teenagers and have demanded that President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority throw it out of the new Palestinian unity government. | |
| Mr. Abbas had bluntly condemned the kidnappings, which Mr. Indyk viewed as encouraging — the kind of gesture, unpopular with the Arab street, that could help restore some measure of trust between him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. | Mr. Abbas had bluntly condemned the kidnappings, which Mr. Indyk viewed as encouraging — the kind of gesture, unpopular with the Arab street, that could help restore some measure of trust between him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. |
| Now, though, the Israelis and Palestinians seem destined to lapse into another cycle of recrimination and violence. Mr. Indyk, 63, who served twice as ambassador to Israel and took part in peace negotiations during the Clinton administration, has seen this before. In his 2009 book, “Innocent Abroad,” he offered lessons from former President Bill Clinton’s failed effort, which ended with the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in 2000. | |
| The biggest one, he wrote, was that the United States needed to adopt a “wiser approach by making our reformist goals more modest and our assumptions more realistic.” | The biggest one, he wrote, was that the United States needed to adopt a “wiser approach by making our reformist goals more modest and our assumptions more realistic.” |
| Secretary of State John Kerry was anything but modest, plunging into the peace process with a nine-month deadline to negotiate a final agreement that had eluded negotiators for 20 years. Mr. Indyk argued that he was justified in going for broke because, after two decades of interim deals, “there was no credible way forward with modest goals.” | Secretary of State John Kerry was anything but modest, plunging into the peace process with a nine-month deadline to negotiate a final agreement that had eluded negotiators for 20 years. Mr. Indyk argued that he was justified in going for broke because, after two decades of interim deals, “there was no credible way forward with modest goals.” |
| Moreover, he said, Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Abbas appeared ready to negotiate a deal. “Both sides said that with all the turmoil around us, we should try to make peace,” he said. But as the months ticked by, he said, “the sense of urgency wasn’t there on either side.” | |
| “The sense that they have to do it because otherwise they would be overthrown or their governments would fall didn’t happen,” Mr. Indyk said. “It was the opposite.” | “The sense that they have to do it because otherwise they would be overthrown or their governments would fall didn’t happen,” Mr. Indyk said. “It was the opposite.” |
| Shortly after the talks collapsed, he and Mr. Kerry said the Israeli decision to approve new settlement construction in the West Bank was the triggering event. But Mr. Indyk said it was important to take note of other complicating factors. | Shortly after the talks collapsed, he and Mr. Kerry said the Israeli decision to approve new settlement construction in the West Bank was the triggering event. But Mr. Indyk said it was important to take note of other complicating factors. |
| Chief among these was Hamas. Having lost its main source of funding in Egypt, Mr. Indyk said, the group was desperate to reconcile with Mr. Abbas’s Fatah party. When Mr. Abbas felt disillusioned by the lack of progress in the talks with Israel, he found a ready partner for his fallback strategy of forming a unity government. | |
| The American decision to keep the negotiations secret posed another hurdle. While both parties abided by the agreement — which Mr. Kerry imposed to avoid airing politically threatening issues in public — it made it impossible to publicize any progress made in the negotiations. That, in turn, meant there was no way to mobilize popular support for the effort in Israel or the West Bank. | |
| Even so, Mr. Indyk said, Mr. Kerry has decided to keep the details under wraps, so that if there is an opportunity to restart the process, the parties can pick up where they left off. Though President Obama has now made two fruitless attempts, Mr. Indyk insisted that he had time to take another run at it before leaving office. | Even so, Mr. Indyk said, Mr. Kerry has decided to keep the details under wraps, so that if there is an opportunity to restart the process, the parties can pick up where they left off. Though President Obama has now made two fruitless attempts, Mr. Indyk insisted that he had time to take another run at it before leaving office. |
| Mr. Indyk has filled out forms that will allow him to hold on to his security clearance and continue advising the administration, even while he is working at Brookings. Should the talks heat up again, he said, he would be ready to return to the bargaining table. | Mr. Indyk has filled out forms that will allow him to hold on to his security clearance and continue advising the administration, even while he is working at Brookings. Should the talks heat up again, he said, he would be ready to return to the bargaining table. |
| There was a melancholy undertone in his voice, however. As the decades have passed without an accord, the very necessity of the two-state solution has come to seem irrelevant to many Israelis, for whom, he said, “the Palestinians had become ghosts.” | There was a melancholy undertone in his voice, however. As the decades have passed without an accord, the very necessity of the two-state solution has come to seem irrelevant to many Israelis, for whom, he said, “the Palestinians had become ghosts.” |
| The most poignant moment of Mr. Indyk’s experience came near the end, when the two sides failed to agree even on a framework to extend negotiations. Majid Faraj, the director of intelligence for the Palestinians, turned to the Israelis across the table and said, “You just don’t see us.” | The most poignant moment of Mr. Indyk’s experience came near the end, when the two sides failed to agree even on a framework to extend negotiations. Majid Faraj, the director of intelligence for the Palestinians, turned to the Israelis across the table and said, “You just don’t see us.” |
| And yet, the bloodshed of the last week has made two things plain: Israelis cannot ignore the anger in the West Bank, and Mr. Indyk should probably keep his bag packed. “Without a resolution of the conflict,” he said, “there is no sustainable status quo.” | And yet, the bloodshed of the last week has made two things plain: Israelis cannot ignore the anger in the West Bank, and Mr. Indyk should probably keep his bag packed. “Without a resolution of the conflict,” he said, “there is no sustainable status quo.” |