The US bid to get Israelis and Palestinians to agree to a framework for a peace deal by the end of next month appears caught in an endless cycle of mistrust and the Netanyahu government’s intransigence.
Washington’s chief diplomat John Kerry has flown to the Middle East every few weeks since February 2013 - first to push the sides to the negotiating table and then to keep them there.
“The level of mistrust is as large as any level of mistrust I’ve ever seen, on both sides,” Kerry told lawmakers at home on March 12.
The initial goal of brokering a peace deal within nine months is long abandoned. Direct talks began in July. In the first few months, Kerry oversaw at least 19 closed meetings between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.
In November, the two sides fell out over Israeli construction in West Bank settlements and the direct talks ended.
Kerry then set out to broker a so-called framework for peace negotiations by April 29. But the talks remain stuck over the demand for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and Israel’s military presence along the border with Jordan in the West Bank.
Some suggest that even if a framework were to emerge, it would be to keep the sides talking.
“This framework that they might agree or not agree on is mainly about extending the negotiations,” said Ghassan Khatib, vice president of the Birzeit University in the West Bank.
Core issues in the conflict, such as borders, Jerusalem and the issue of Palestinian refugees have been given little attention.
The Palestinian prisoner question has become a serious sticking point. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in mid-March he would not release more prisoners if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas did not agree to talks beyond the end of April.
When the long-stalled peace process resumed in July, Netanyahu had rejected a key Palestinian demand for a freeze on settlement construction.
He agreed to release 104 Palestinian prisoners held on security charges - depending on the progress made in talks - with the last group of prisoners due to be released yesterday. But yesterday’s release never came.
So far, Israel has only freed 78 prisoners in three batches.
A Palestinian official Jibril Rajub said the Isareli decision not tot release the last batch of prisoners would be a “slap in the face of the US administration and its efforts”, adding that the Palestinians would resume their international diplomatic offensive against Israel as a consequence.
A poll published yesterday by the Palestinian Centre for Public Opinion said 87% of those surveyed believed the Palestinian leadership should renew its UN efforts if the prisoners are not freed. The prisoner release “is a prerequisite for any future progress of the negotiations”, the centre said, as the overwhelming majority of Palestinians consider it to be “the most crucial issue that must be treated in order to continue with the peace process”.
