The American team that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry appointed to oversee the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations has a raging appetite for drafts, wording and notes. Kerry's office reports that the talks, while encountering great difficulties, continue to persevere. Therefore, the conditions he presents to each side can be no more than trial balloons. Items put off have been passed over using alternative phrasing and may perhaps be avoided in the future. Kerry began by suggesting the Israel Defense Forces maintain a presence in the Jordan Valley for a period of 10 years, at the end of which the need for an extension would be considered. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected this move in a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama, in which Abbas claimed Israel would unfailingly seek to prolong its presence in the area. In his next draft, Kerry replaced the IDF with U.S. troops. And this is not the last word on this. Everything remains in flux. Negotiators know to put all ideas out there. The fact that the Americans took into account a need for a framework deal prior to a final-status agreement does not reflect that they actually accept this. They are simply not excluding it as an option. Are there even direct Israeli-Palestinian talks, or have the Palestinians silenced them, forcing the sides to communicate from afar? Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday that direct talks are not held anymore -- each side just communicates with Kerry. Over the last few days, Israel has officially maintained silence as to whether Erekat's portrayal of the situation is indeed accurate. Under these conditions, both sides seem to be entrenching themselves in their stances, instead of showing flexibility. Abbas not only opposes a partial Israel Defense Forces presence in the Jordan Valley, but is also demanding that the IDF withdraw altogether from territories allocated to a Palestinian state within just three years. Channel 2 commentator Ehud Ya'ari reported Monday night that Abbas is demanding all of east Jerusalem. If this is a bargaining tactic, then negotiations are in full swing. But if this is an ultimatum, then the negotiations are doomed to an imminent and reverberating failure. This raises the possibility that it may be necessary to extend the nine-month negotiating window, which is set to close in April or May. Should Israel request that the deadline be moved back several months to a year, the U.S. would understand why, but it may still not rush to approve such a move at the present time. Kerry is concerned that any change to the deadline would slow the negotiations to a sluggish pace, with an increase in Palestinian terrorist attacks -- as we have seen in recent weeks -- and further Israeli settlement construction. The Americans see a ray of light in the inclination of Abbas to pass the buck to the Arab League, both because Abbas, a weak character, would struggle to make such a monumental historic decision, and because the Arab League supports the U.S. effort. Meanwhile, uncertainty continues to reign in the negotiations, whose fate has yet to be decreed.
