{"id":8280,"date":"2013-07-23T02:00:21","date_gmt":"2013-07-23T08:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=8280"},"modified":"2013-07-28T07:49:23","modified_gmt":"2013-07-28T13:49:23","slug":"news-analysis-under-clouds-of-secrecy-kerry-lures-both-sides-back-to-peace-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/news-analysis-under-clouds-of-secrecy-kerry-lures-both-sides-back-to-peace-negotiations\/","title":{"rendered":"News Analysis: Under clouds of secrecy, Kerry lures both sides back to peace negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By BEN SALES<\/p>\n<p>TEL AVIV (JTA) &#8212; We don\u2019t know. That\u2019s the operative phrase of the new round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks announced Friday and ostensibly set to begin in the coming days in Washington.<\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t know their parameters, or if Israel will freeze settlements, release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners or agree to negotiate based on its pre-1967 borders.<\/p>\n<p>We don\u2019t know whether the Palestinian Authority has agreed to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. We don\u2019t know how long Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will hold off on taking Israel to the International Criminal Court.<\/p>\n<p>Most of all, we don\u2019t know whether they\u2019ll lead anywhere.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8389\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Abbas.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8389\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8389 lazyload\" title=\"Kerry+and+Abbas\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Abbas-300x205.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Abbas-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Abbas-1024x700.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/205;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8389\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8389\" title=\"Kerry+and+Abbas\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Abbas-300x205.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Abbas-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Abbas-1024x700.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-8389\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sitting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas before a meeting in Ramallah, West Bank, July 19, 2013. (State Department photo\/ Public Domain)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The talks, according to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, will last six to nine months with the intended outcome of a two-state, final-status agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.<\/p>\n<p>For now they will involve the chief negotiators for both sides: Saeb Erekat for the Palestinians, and Tzipi Livni and Isaac Molho for the Israelis.<br \/>\nThe rest of the details, as Kerry said in his Friday announcement, are \u201cspeculation\u201d and \u201cconjecture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe agreement is still in the process of being formalized, so we are absolutely not going to talk about any of the elements now,\u201d Kerry said, adding that \u201cthe people who know the facts are not talking about them. The parties have agreed that I will be the only one making further comments about this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kerry\u2019s dogged efforts to simply bring both sides to the table &#8212; including six trips to the region this year &#8212; have been characterized by their secrecy. During his months of shuttling between Jerusalem, Ramallah and Amman, Kerry has praised progress toward negotiations but kept details under wraps.<\/p>\n<p>Following Kerry&#8217;s announcement on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hopes the talks will prevent the establishment of a binational state in Israel and the creation of an Iranian-sponsored terrorist entity in West Bank.<br \/>\n\u201cThese will not be easy negotiations, but we will enter into them with integrity, sincerity and the hope that this process will be conducted responsibly, seriously and substantively &#8212; and, I must say, at least in the opening stages, discreetly,\u201d he told his Cabinet on Sunday. \u201cThroughout this process, I will strongly uphold, as I already have, the security needs of the State of Israel and other vital interests.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_8391\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Netanyahu.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8391\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8391 lazyload\" title=\"Netanyahu_Kerry\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Netanyahu-300x265.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"265\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Netanyahu-300x265.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Netanyahu-1024x905.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/265;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8391\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8391\" title=\"Netanyahu_Kerry\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Netanyahu-300x265.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"265\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Netanyahu-300x265.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Kerry+and+Netanyahu-1024x905.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-8391\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with U.S. Secretary Of State John Kerry in Jerusalem, June 28, 2013.(Amos Ben Gershom\/GPO\/Flash90)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Signs of the rocky road ahead were evident almost immediately, with Palestinian officials denying Monday that any agreement had been reached to participate in final-status negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>A Palestinian spokesperson said the upcoming meeting would only be a preliminary one; formal negotiations would take place only when Israel consented to freeze settlement expansion and negotiate based on the 1967 lines. Israeli ministers shot back that they would agree to none of those stipulations.<\/p>\n<p>Israel is set to release 82 Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture ahead of the talks, but Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio that \u201ca settlement building freeze isn\u2019t on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The biggest question that no one can answer, of course, is whether this round will succeed where so many others have failed. Israelis and Palestinians have been talking peace for more than 20 years, but the process has borne little fruit in the past decade.<\/p>\n<p>The last attempt at talks, in 2010, ended after three weeks when Israel rebuffed Abbas\u2019 demand for the extension of a 10-month settlement building freeze.<br \/>\nBefore that, lengthy negotiations in 2008 between then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas reportedly ended after Abbas rejected an Israeli proposal without presenting a counteroffer. Soon after, Olmert was indicted for corruption and resigned his post.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s far from clear whether the political will exists on either side to conclude a final-status agreement, which would likely include at least some evacuation of Israeli settlers from the West Bank and Palestinians abandoning claims for millions of refugees to return to Israel.<\/p>\n<p>On the Palestinian side, Abbas has held power for eight years without elections and has no power in Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas since 2006. Kerry has gained backing for the negotiations from the Arab League, but Hamas, deemed a terrorist group by Israel and the United States, has come out against the talks.<br \/>\nIn Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports the talks, but a majority of his coalition opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state. In January\u2019s election, Jewish Home &#8212; a pro-settler party &#8212; won 12 of the Knesset\u2019s 120 seats running on a platform of opposing a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n<p>Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett, Israel&#8217;s economics minister, threatened Monday to vote against the coalition&#8217;s proposed budget unless Netanyahu advances a bill that would put any peace deal to a national referendum. Netanyahu said Sunday he would do that.<\/p>\n<p>And in recent weeks, as Kerry was galvanizing support for the talks, prominent members of Netanyahu\u2019s Likud Party &#8212; including Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon &#8212; came out against Palestinian statehood.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Danon said he trusts Netanyahu but opposes settlement evacuation or a release of Palestinian prisoners.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must not repeat the injustice of the past and uproot thousands of Jews from their homes,&#8221; Danon said in a statement. &#8220;I also hope that we learn from previous mistakes regarding the release of prisoners with blood on their hands. These murderers must not be released as an &#8216;act of good will&#8217; or as a prize for returning to the negotiating table.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Should Netanyahu\u2019s coalition turn on him, the prime minister could count on support from across the aisle. Labor Party Chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich, who leads the opposition, has said her party would support Netanyahu should a peace deal come to the table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope that Prime Minister Netanyahu, who declared loud and clear that he supports the two-state solution, will make the necessary decisions,\u201d Yachimovich said, according to the Times of Israel. \u201cWe should not just settle for a renewal of negotiations but do everything possible to work towards real accords.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"News%20Analysis%3A%20Under%20clouds%20of%20secrecy%2C%20Kerry%20lures%20both%20sides%20back%20to%20peace%20negotiations\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,25],"tags":[208,8781,8790,8795,514,8788,907,380,1962],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8280"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8390,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8280\/revisions\/8390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}