The subtitle of this Associated Press article is: Negotiatior’s admission comes at outset of U.S. Secretary of State’s visit.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21617587/
JERUSALEM – At the outset of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s latest diplomatic mission to the region, Israel’s top negotiator acknowledged on Sunday that there were problems trying to frame a blueprint for a peace deal with the Palestinians.
The two sides are at odds over whether the blueprint should spell out ways to resolve issues that have derailed peace talks in the past — namely, final borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state, sovereignty over disputed Jerusalem, and a solution for Palestinians who became refugees after Israel’s creation in 1948.
Israel has made clear that it is not interested in talking about the very issues whose settlement are a prerequisite to culminating a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Strange?
It is reported that much of the disagreement between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators is about whether the conference should be vague or detailed regarding the issues discussed, like those four essentials above. The Palestinians are pushing for a detailed agreement, while Israel claims that a more vague document would give it flexibility. The Palestinians want a deadline for establishing a Palestinian state, Israel does not.
The Palestinians are obviously dissatisfied with Israel’s desire for vagueness, because nothing has ever come from it before. At the Camp David/Taba meetings, for example, Israel insisted that nothing be written down, and refused to discuss certain critical issues like the settlements in the West Bank, which were “off the table.” Israel also objected to drafting a timeline for an accord which it regarded as dissatisfactory.
The Palestinians have obviously been through this before and so have the Israelis. The fact that no date has been set for the conference reflects the broad divide between the parties, and it is even doubtful whether it will ever take place.
What is that divide? The Palestinians want a state, a nation called Palestine. However, the Israelis have been working for years to confiscate or colonize the only territory through which such a state could emerge, the West Bank. Only 22% of original Palestine is left to them, subsequent to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine-Israel in 1948, which has been militarily occupied since the 1967 Israeli-Arab War.
Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad put it this way:
….the situation on the ground is not static. With continued Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank, prospects for a two-state solution were getting dimmer every day.
Now why would Israel be expanding settlements at a time when it is supposed to be negotiating peace with the Palestinians?
Here’s why: the facts on the ground speak for themselves.
This map shows Israel’s next generous offer: the disengagement/convergence plan from the Kadima party, which adds up to a Bantustan state. Settlements would be withdrawn only from the dark orange area.
This map shows the distribution of the over 150 Israeli only towns and cities in the West Bank (Carter said there were over 200). Not shown are the Israeli restricted roads and highways interconnecting these town and cities with Israel. Also not shown are the military outposts that are situated in the West Bank to protect the settlements and road system.
This map shows the new projected border of Israel: the Jordan River including the future Wall cutting off the Jordan Valley. Israel says it needs the Jordan Valley for “security” purposes. Afterall, it does not want to be attacked by the ghost of King Hussein and his rough riders.
The bullshit never ends and it is doubtful that Rice or the Annapolis conference will bring it to an end.
