U.S. President Barack Obama's meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House on Monday will determine whether the peace process is dead or whether efforts to reach an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians will continue. It will also determine whether U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry presents his framework deal or leaves it as a draft in his drawer for his memoir to be published after his term ends.
Amid the Washington summits (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Obama two weeks ago), positions on both sides of the aisle have escalated. In a recent interview with Channel 2, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon directed his comments at Obama, practically shouting in the president's ear that Abbas is not a peace partner. Abbas only takes, never gives.
On Monday, it was Palestinian Authority official Qadura Fares' turn. When repeatedly asked by Kol Israel Radio's Esti Perez why it is so difficult for Palestinians to say that Israel is the Jewish nation state, Fares -- an eloquent man -- could not find the words to explain the rejectionism. Israel had not asked for this in the past, he claimed, so why now?
This demands a longer explanation, and we need to persistently ask why. If the demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish state is so important to Israel, yet so meaningless to the Palestinians, then why not satisfy the other side, the opponent, without any cost? The Palestinians have no answer, unless of course they do not intend to agree to a permanent deal, or to recognize the right of the State of Israel to exist.
Moreover, according to the Palestinians, not only is Israel not the Jewish nation state, but there is no such thing as a Jewish state. Fares carefully chooses his words and his vocabulary contains the "Israeli nation," not the "Jewish nation," which would be equivalent to Israeli leaders using "Arabs" rather than "the Palestinians." That would be unthinkable.
It seems that in the current round of talks, there is no maneuvering room left. The Americans have to decide whether to present their framework deal or not. That document will also expose both sides and clarify whether the Palestinians' vocal objection was a bargaining chip and a form of brinkmanship, or whether they were really tired of talking. The result will be a bloody battle between the Israel Defense Forces and the terrorists, each seeking to destabilize the other's leaders.
The Israeli-Palestinian-American triangle has reached the final stretch. This is not how it looked nine months ago when peace negotiations started. The U.S.'s and EU's hopeful statements following the meeting between Abbas and Obama were predictable, and neither add nor subtract a thing.
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