While the Knesset is in recess and many are still summer-vacationing, Judea and Samaria leaders fear a continuation of the settlement freeze in order to appease Abbas.
George Mitchell, U.S. President Obama’s special envoy to the Middle East, is back in Israel for his fifth trip, and some reports are that Mahmoud Abbas is ready to back down and agree to direct talks with Israel.
Reuters quotes Palestinian Authority sources as saying that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas “could decide within days to begin face-to-face talks, provided he received political backing for the move from major powers. If that happens, he said this week, ‘I will immediately go to direct talks, because it includes everything I am asking for.’" [emphasis added]
“Everything Abbas is asking for” includes a total construction freeze by all Jews throughout Judea and Samaria, including northern, eastern and southern Jerusalem, as well as an agreed-upon timetable and contours of a final peace agreement based on a return to pre-1967 borders.
Meanwhile, however, it was reported that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had rejected something very similar to the above scenario. Netanyahu reportedly told Mitchell on Wednesday that he cannot accept the PA's latest demand - namely, that direct talks be renewed on the basis of a Quartet declaration that the Palestinian state be based on the pre-1967 borders. Netanyahu reportedly said that the talks should simply begin without any pre-conditions.
If Not Now, Then Just Days Before the Freeze Expires
Settlement leaders in Judea and Samaria are still more than slightly concerned, however. Danny Dayan, Secretary-General of the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria, told Israel National News, “I suspect that right before the construction freeze ends six weeks from now, Abu Mazen will agree to direct talks on condition that the freeze be extended – and that will put Netanyahu in a very tight spot.”
At present, however, he does not see the Israeli government “giving in to this blackmail, though we have to always be on the alert – especially a few weeks from now.”
Deputy Minister Ayoub Kara of the Likud told Israel National News, “The Palestinians are waging a war of friction against us, but the bottom line is that there is no Palestinian leader who is able to commit to ending the conflict... Their declarations are nothing more than words. There are always various reports and spins – but let’s remember that Arafat said right after he signed the Oslo Agreement that it was like Muhammed’s agreement with the Kureish, meaning that it would be abrogated the moment the enemy is weak.”
Kara is not concerned that the construction freeze will be extended: “The Likud ministers, and even Netanyahu himself, have all said that it will not be extended… To change this would require the convening of the Likud Central Committee, etc.”
Asked about the likelihood that Netanyahu would not extend the freeze, but would simply not allow Jewish construction, Kara said, “This also won’t happen - and if it does, there are many ways to make sure that this situation will be rectified.”
Reuters’ prediction on Wednesday that “Abbas is now expected to drop his objections and move from indirect talks to face-to-face negotiations” now appears to be obsolete, given the report that Netanyahu has rejected the latest Palestinian Authority demand – for now.