Obama tries to accelerate the peace process in Middle East
Posted on June 10, 2010 by christopher
Continues the U.S. commitment to the Middle East. Barack Obama has officially invited to Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for talks scheduled for next Tuesday. To proclaim the authority of the Jewish state. The White House has made it known then that Obama will “in the near future” the president of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen. The meetings with U.S. President will be the first Middle Eastern leaders for the beginning of indirect peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians that began last month, with Obama’s special envoy, George Mitchell, as a mediator between the parties. On the significance of these additional contacts, listen Giorgio Bernardelli, an expert on Middle East issues, interviewed by Jade Aquilino:
Of course Obama wants to give strength to this initiative of indirect talks, which began a thousand difficulties from his Middle East envoy, George Mitchell. These talks have begun, but there is a climate of skepticism around them. Obama obviously wants to spend with these calls his authority to give a little ‘more power initiative. The other factor to consider is that U.S. domestic politics. There had been a previous encounter with Netanyahu in March, which had ended in a rough way to Israel: Obama had called on Israel to keep the commitments required, and this move, however, had aroused much criticism within the political United States, especially in the most linked to the alliance with Israel. Somehow this meeting, with a climate certainly different, mark an attempt to replace things also compared the relationship between the President and Congress.
Just in the meeting of March there had been pressure on new Jewish settlements: the announcement of the construction of new Jewish homes in an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem, was a bit ‘cool that conversation between Obama and Netanyahu. Now where lurk the contrasts?
There are always differences. The situation is far from resolved. On east Jerusalem has fallen in recent weeks, a sort of tacit approval. There have been initiatives in Jerusalem sensational new development, but there was not a formal commitment – such as those which apply to the rest of the Territories – to freeze new settlements. We, however, that now is putting the issue of freezing of settlements in the West Bank because that freeze – from which started the whole argument of indirect talks – is still reported a very limited period, expiring on 29 September. So the encounter at the White House will be discussed as well.
But what is the state of relations between the United States and the Palestinians?
The Palestinian side is trying to pursue this process of state building from its institutions. The real issue, from the perspective of the Palestinian Authority, on the balance of power. Today Obama is betting – as the international community has always done – Abu Mazen and especially on this new emerging figure, that of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. However, it remains an open question of the division within Palestinian society, of national unity with Hamas that never comes. There is a very important date on the horizon of July 17, when held in the West Bank local elections, which are the first held in the Palestinian territories since, in 2006, Hamas won the elections. Hamas has already announced it would boycott this vote, so there will be a true comparison, but certainly much count the percentage of voters who will participate. Somehow it will be a real referendum on the authority of President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad and above all, to see how this new course impressed on Palestinian politics is really intended to have a future.