An agreement to reach a final status agreement by the end of 2008 is a laudable goal, says Public Security Minister Avi Dichter of Kadima, but essentially unrealistic.
Speaking to new Border Guard Police officers at the IDF Reception and Sorting Base, Dichter said he believes both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas are sincere in their intentions.
The two leaders issued a joint statement in Annapolis in which they allow the U.S. to serve as final arbiter and commit to carry out the negotiations and compromises set forth in the U.S. Road Map plan as a blueprint for the final agreement, as follows:
"The parties also commit to immediately implement their respective obligations under the performance-based Road Map to a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict issued by the Quartet on 30 April, 2003" [the Road Map -ed.] and agree to form an American, Palestinian and Israeli mechanism led by the United States to follow up on the implementation of the Road Map.
"The parties further commit to continue the implementation of the ongoing obligations of the Road Map until they reach a peace treaty. The United States will monitor and judge the fulfillment of the commitment of both sides of the Road Map.
"Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, implementation of the future peace treaty will be subject to the implementation of the Road Map, as judged by the United States."
The statement was forced through at the final hour by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who pulled Abbas out of the talks and insisted that he sign it.
Dichter still questions the ability of the PA government to enforce even the first stage in the Road Map plan, which calls for the PA to bring about the total cessation of terrorist attacks on Israel from PA-controlled territory. This stage also obligates the PA to completely dismantle terrorist infrastructure. Abbas will have to accomplish both goals - at least to U.S. satisfaction - before further steps toward final status moves can be made. Dichter did say that he believes the veracity of the statements made by Abbas in the document.
"The Road Map stipulates a two-year timetable, and the Palestinians have not met it," Dichter pointed out. "The timetable was unrealistic to begin with and it is still unrealistic… I believe that by the end of 2008 we will have a better idea regarding [their] performance. This could lead to a very positive, significant process," he added with guarded optimism.
The question still remains, however, as to whether Abbas has what it takes to control the many terrorist groups in the PA's midst, especially considering that his Fatah forces were driven out of Gaza by the Hamas terrorist organization last June.
"Their performance amounts to zero," Dichter observed.