ISRAEL: Concern over Latin American recognition of Palestinian state

First came Brazil. In a public letter addressed to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last week, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his country "recognizes a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders." The statement came in response to a personal request from Abbas, it said.

Next came Argentina, which announced Monday that it would join Brazil in its decision, which U.S. lawmakers had protested as "severely misguided."

The time has come "to recognize Palestine as a free and independent state," said Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, explaining that the move reflects deep frustration over the lack of progress and failure to achieve the goals of the Middle East peace talks started nearly two decades ago.

More neighboring countries are expected to follow suit, and Israel isn't impressed.

Although Israeli officials Monday called the move a meaningless and virtual declaration, the Jewish state is keen on nipping this trend in the bud and is beginning to hold low-profile talks with Latin American leaders, Israeli news reports said.  Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor was quoted in the news media as saying, "This is a very disappointing step that will contribute nothing to furthering the peace process." Moreover, it goes against the Oslo accords whereby "a permanent solution can only be the result of negotiations."

Indeed, this is the logic behind the Oslo process and the governing principle for decades. But lately, observers are increasingly coming to the conclusion that this is no longer tenable.

In a recent talk with the Times, Menachem Klein, a veteran analyst from Bar-Ilan University and past peace talks advisor, said the Oslo logic is simply irrelevant to today's reality. The notion that if both sides only sit down they can reach an agreement on borders within three months, or a year, is naive, as is the thinking that the ball can just be rolled back to Camp David and the process restarted from that point. The current situation calls for a serious retreat and rethinking, in order to find a new course of action.

Klein said that the Americans are more interested in conflict management than resolution, and that the Israelis are content with the status quo. The Palestinians are looking for ways to break through the status quo without breaking the game rules entirely, he said, trying "to stay on the political track but not that of direct negotiations," which aren't working. One such possibility is the avenue of international institutions or the United Nations.

What Klein calls the "Oslo logic," Gidi Grinstein calls "the permanent status paradigm." And according to him, it's history. Grinstein, president of the Reut Institute and onetime secretary of the Israeli negotiation team, said the concept of a linear process continued until a permanent status agreement is reached has governed the process since the Camp David accords of 1979. 

The breaking point, however, came in 2006 with Hamas' victory in Palestinian Authority parliamentary elections, which resulted in a legitimization crisis for both leadership and peace process. "After that, the permanent status paradigm was dead," Grinstein said. Nonetheless, he added, it still holds water in Washington. He talks of a more realistic approach, "coordinated unilateralism."

Yet others suggest that attempting to pursue the process in its traditional format is in itself becoming counterproductive, as it constantly aggravates the old stumbling blocks like East Jerusalem or produces new ones, such as the issue of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.

The talks opened festively early September. But the show ran only a few nights until Israel's freeze (which morphed into a "moratorium" and then a "suspension") of settlement construction expired. The argument over the freeze seems to have taken the process down a side alley, where it smacked into a wall.

Meanwhile, no word yet on the "letter," in which Israel expected the U.S. to put in writing understandings said to have been reached orally in return for extending the freeze. Two weeks ago, Israeli sources said they were still "nailing down the specifics."

In addition to the much-discussed F-35 fight-jet deal reportedly among the understandings, another strategic boon for Israel was to have been an American commitment to veto any U.N. resolution recognizing a unilaterally declared Palestinian state -- though Palestinians are looking for ways to circumvent this.

Which brings things back to the top. 

-- Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem

 

Comments

[Dean Blake]

@ geo88a - its the large and financially powerful Palestinian diaspora drug cartels that is influential in South America, not the Jews. The Palestinians are major players in the drug trade in the 'golden triangle' at the confluence of three states; Paragua, Bolivi and Brazil. The significance of the Latin announcement has more to do with posturing an independant foreign policy a la Venezuala than any actual interests in the region.

[Dean Blake]

Another failed Arab state on the world map; this one about twice the size of Leichtenstein but with a potential population with a 'Right of Arab Return' of 8 million in a country that can't support its current population. What will be the consequence of that move? More unrest.
Unilateral declaration of statehood is nothing less than a declaration of war against Israel and will take more than the 1967 borders because Arabs see no viable option otherwise since work is not an option, they have little to offer besides dates and olives, and government corruption is rampant. Palestinians are not economically viable now within the WB areas A, B and C or Gaza, and add 2.7 mm returnees from camps in Lebanon and elsewhere and it will be worse.
Unilateral statehood a suicide threat by Abbas' "Give me what I demand or I'm going to blow my own head off!!" Who do you think will win the third Intefada? I bet Israel will win it, yet again, and the Palestinians will only hurt themselves. Its a bluff, a posture in order to create pressure and change, not just by Israel and USA, but within his own Fatah, but its not yet a viable state. It will still suck up UN RA money by the billions every year. Where is that $1.4 billion Arafat absconded with that's still unaccounted for?

[PRECIGIL]

WHAT GOES AROUND WILL COME AROUND----Over 40 prominent Israeli rabbis – some of them public servants – Warn their congregations not to rent property to non-Jews.Which provoked immediate protests from civil rights activists. The letter, which cites ancient Jewish sages who held that living with gentiles can lead to "sacrilege". Many of the signatories were publicly-funded municipal chief rabbis.

[Johnz52]

Pro- Semite: Palestine for Palestinians.

Israel doesn't care that other nations are finally recognizing a country that was on every map up until 1948, tough. Israel demands that they be the only country allowed to take unilateral action. This is just another example of their 60+ year history of rogue behavior and violating international law.

[Michael]

When Avigdor Liberman is your Foreign Minister you reap what you sow.

[geo88a]

I agree with barryel. I also think that all parties involved, should have a permanent cease fire in place. Regardless, of the outcome of the negotiations.

In Latin America countries especially in the south of the continent. These declarations are significant, because they have a relative large contingent Jewish population.

[RWh]

The Israelis want all of the land within Israel for the state of Israel. The political factions within Israel will speak with forked tongue. Saying they want peace (on their terms) while at the same time saying that God gave them the land (all of it).

[Cleopatra Schwartz]

Agreed. It's high time for the world to announce support by recognizing a Palestinian State on 1967 borders. The US should follow this course immediately and, with world opinion firmly stated, perhaps Israel will begin to truly seek peace.

[Edina]

@ Barryel - you are the voice of reason. I sincerely hope that both your nations will find common grounds and acceptable conditions to all. Humanity spends its time fighting for silly reasons, we should all work together to stop the craziness.

[me.yahoo.com/a/OdYMp9d2q5dlq9G1Lkg_U1KFd0xTr9edV9Lt]

I am not sure why the U.S. continues to breathlessly fixate on the actions of this tiny country, represented here by about 2% of the population. Israel is way more trouble than it is worth; we are sending it money we need here at home, endangering our troops by linking ourselves so totally to its actions, and destroying our credibility by mindlessly backing its aggression.
It is time to treat Israel like any would-be ally; reward it when its actions help us, withhold rewards when they don't. But that will never happen because of all the Israel-firsters salted through out government and media, who obviously care more about the interests of this foreign country than those of the U.S.

[Bloodyscot]

Israel is no interested in Oslo Accords or UN 181/242 but in total removing or limiting the Palestinians to as small an areas as possible. This view as become main stream now thanks to 1M new settlers mainly from ex-Soviet countries that are now 16% of the total 5.6M Jews in Israel.

In 2001 Netanyahu said "I'm going to interpret the (Oslo) accords in such a way that would allow me to put an end to this galloping forward to the '67 borders." and "Defined military zones are security zones; as far as I'm concerned, the entire Jordan Valley is a defined military zone. Go argue."
Netanyahu conditioned his signing of the 1997 Hebron agreement on US consent that there be no withdrawals from "specified military locations,"
"Why is that important? Because from that moment on I stopped the Oslo Accords," Netanyahu affirmed

The 1993 Oslo Accords were to only last 5yrs but both side need to keep parts of it in place to avoid major problems from getting out of hand.

[barryel]

As an Israeli if I try to be objective and avoid feelings or historical/religious feelings as a Jew, this is is a political process that had started even before the Oslo accords or the Road-Map discussions. The two people MUST FIND a way to live together and reconcile ! THERE IS NO OTHER WAY to live here. I think leaders on both sides should talk directly and also talk to their people on the necessity to reconcile and start a new era here in this long suffering region . We can not afford to fight each other not because it is insane but because we people of this region have also ecological problems we share together like drying up and lack of water, global heating, and confronting problems of welfare and poverty in the region. We must "wake up"