Israel: Palestinians to blame for impasse in talks

Sunday, January 10, 2010
TownHall.com

Israel is displeased with a U.S. suggestion of sanctions against Israel over peace talks with the Palestinians.

U.S. envoy George Mitchell was asked in an interview what sort of pressure could be applied to Israel to pressure it to make concessions in negotiations.

Mitchell answered that under American law, "the United States can withhold support on loan guarantees to Israel." But he added that he prefers persuasion to sanctions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says in response that it is the Palestinians, not Israel, who should be blamed for the negotiations impasse.

Under the previous administration, Israel received billions of dollars in guarantees, which are U.S.-backed loans with favorable interest rates.

The U.S. has cut them in the past over West Bank separation barrier construction.

US official: Mitchell didn't threaten Israel

YNet News
Yitzhak Benhorin

Published:

01.10.10, 07:17 / Israel News

WASHINGTON – Attempt to soften message? An American official said Saturday night that Mideast envoy George Mitchell's remark that US aid to Israel may be jeopardized was not a threat, but a response to an interviewer's question on the American administration's options if Israel refused to resume peace talks with the Palestinians.

"It was not a threat and not an implied threat," the senior official told Ynet.

On the eve of his visit to the Middle East, Mitchell hinted that his country could freeze its aid to Israel if the Jewish state failed to advance peace talks with the Palestinians and a two-state solution.

Mitchell clarified in an interview to PBS' "Charlie Rose" show that the United States would use incentives or sanctions against both sides. According to American law, Mitchell said, the US can freeze its support for aid to Israel.

Mitchell noted in the interview that all options must remain open and that the sides must be convinced about what their important interests are. He said some progress had been made and that his country would continue its efforts to resume the negotiations

After the statement sparked a row, Washington sources clarified to Ynet that Senator Mitchell had no plan to threaten or imply that the US would use sanctions against Israel, but only to point to one option out of many that the American administration had in dealing with crises across the world.

'Focusing on encouraging sides'

"We are focusing on encouraging the sides – Israel and the Palestinians – to return to the negotiating table," the official said. "This will be at the focus of Senator Mitchell's visit to the region later this month."

The US envoy also addressed the expected timetable, saying that "we think the negotiation should last no more than two years, once begun we think it can be done within that period of time. We hope the parties agree. Personally I think it can be done in a shorter period of time."

The American economic guarantees allow Israel to raise funds at low interest rates and improve the Jewish state's credit rating. The last time the US threatened to freeze the guarantees was during the term of President George Bush Sr. and former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.

J'lem rejects 2-year peace deadline

By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER IN WASHINGTON AND KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Israel doesn't want to see deadlines imposed on the negotiating process with the Palestinians, even as the US is endorsing the idea of a two-year time frame.

In the past, attempts to impose time frameworks have not proved either realizable or helpful," Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren told The Jerusalem Post.

Oren talked to the Post hours before US Middle East envoy George Mitchell said Wednesday night that "we think that the negotiation should last no more than two years. Once begun we think it can be done within that period of time."

Mitchell was speaking on PBS's Charlie Rose show, as the Americans were making an intensified push to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table and amidst much prodding from the Arab side for a limited time-line on the talks.

"We hope the parties agree," Mitchell said of the two-year schedule. "Personally I think it can be done in a shorter period of time."

Oren, in throwing cold water on the idea, noted that he had no particular knowledge of efforts to limit talks to two years.

The question is, will the Americans be able to provide us with any assurances," he said. "However, I don't think there's room for much optimism because in the past we've seen that the Americans couldn't force Israel to meet its commitments under the terms of the road map."

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Abbas, threatened that if the US administration failed to force Israel to completely halt settlement construction, the PA would seek the UN Security Council's approval for unilateral recognition of the pre-June 4, 1967, lines as the borders of the future Palestinian state.

Abu Rudaineh warned that the entire region was facing a "volcano" because of the international community's indifference to Israeli "intransigence."

Meanwhile, Mitchell, who said he would be returning to Israel in the "next few days," also said he would be going to Syria to try to breathe life in the dormant Israel-Syrian track.

"Until now, the Syrians want to complete the indirect talks through Turkey that began in 2008 but ended when the Gaza conflict erupted," he said. "The Israelis prefer immediate and direct negotiations with the Syrians, not completing the indirect process through the Turks. What we said to the two sides is we want to facilitate their coming together. And I will be going to both Israel and Syria on my upcoming visit to try to further this process."

Mitchell said he believed that "an Israel-Syria track could operate in parallel with an Israeli-Palestinian track."

Herb Keinon contributed to this report.