home > by publication type > daily analysis > Decisions Deferred in Mideast Talks
Email
| Prepared by: | Michael Moran |
|---|
The shadow of a member of Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank. (AP/Muhammed Muheisen)
U.S. and Israeli officials agreed after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to wait and see if a new Palestinian unity government being formed between rival Fatah and Hamas factions will meet international standards for recognition, including recognition of Israel's right to exist. Hamas has repeatedly said it would not recognize Israel, but Rice chose to keep her options open. "I haven't seen anything to date that suggests that this is a government that's going to meet the Quartet's principles, but you know...we will see once the government is formed," she told reporters.
After months of internal violence verging at times on civil war, news that Saudi mediation had brought Hamas and Fatah close to declaring a unity Palestinian government (BBC) presents an opening of sorts. Yet Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, appears unwilling to bend on the prerequisites for international recognition set out by the "Quartet"—the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations—attempting to get Israeli-Palestinian talks restarted. Rice met separately Sunday with Abbas (Reuters), apparently taking advantage of the period before the Fatah-Hamas deal officially produces a government. The three-way Rice-Olmert-Abbas summit on Monday led to a commitment to meet again soon, but little else was released publicly (BBC).
Former ambassador Martin S. Indyk, in an interview with CFR.org's Bernard Gwertzman, praised the talks, which "are qualitatively different from anything that she or the Bush administration has done before." But Washington's decision to take a strict view of the Quartet's standards dismayed other Middle East observers. Dennis Ross, who led Middle East diplomatic efforts for presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, says Rice needs to concentrate at this point on what's possible (WashPost), not on what's ideal. Ross' former deputy, Robert Malley, tells Gwertzman a Palestinian unity government offers the only way forward right now. Steven Cook, a Mideast expert and CFR fellow, adds that the American plight in Iraq has become tangled with the failure of Washington to get Israeli-Palestinian talks back on track.
Israeli and American officials insist Abbas has only himself to blame if, in joining arms with Hamas, he fails to bring the militant movement across the well-known frontiers of international acceptability. U.S. and Israeli officials agree "Abbas snubbed his nose" at Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and at the United States, "by agreeing to a national unity government that does not recognize Israel, accept previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements, or forswear terrorism," writes the hawkish Jerusalem Post. Olmert made his own preconditions for talks clear in a speech late last year.
Other Quartet members may yet try to salvage the Palestinian deal. The EU is standing by its previous demands (Deutsche Welle), though Russia has said the sanctions slapped on the Palestinians (Ria Novosti) when Hamas took power should be lifted if the unity government survives. "What really matters is how Hamas acts," says a New York Times editorial. "The most important action would be a credible effort by the joint Hamas and Fatah government to detect and thwart terrorist attacks against Israel."
Weigh in on this issue by emailing CFR.org.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1.212.434.9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
The report of this bipartisan Task Force of distinguished leaders and experts represents a strong consensus on the importance of repairing America's immigration policy. It makes the case that maintaining America's political and economic leadership depends on attracting talented and hard-working immigrants, and on securing the country's borders in a smart, effective, and humane way.
This report finds that nuclear weapons will remain a fundamental element of U.S. national security in the near term, and makes recommendations on how to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. deterrent nuclear force, prevent nuclear terrorism, and strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
About Independent Task Forces at CFR
Complete list of Task Force reports
Identifying international threats and acting on them may be the most difficult job for U.S. policymakers. This report
provides an actionable road map for managing international threats before they erupt into crises and makes a strong case that preventive action is not a luxury but a necessity.
For more than a decade, the United States has mostly watched from the sidelines as Asian countries organize themselves into an alphabet soup of new multilateral groups. In this report, the authors review the relationship between pan-Asian and trans-Pacific institutions and suggest policy guidelines for a new U.S. approach to this new Asian landscape.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
To request permission to reprint or reuse CFR material, please fill out this permissions request form (PDF), referring to the instructions on page 1.
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.