By Alan Elsner
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Secretary of State Kerry and his team take a pause in the current round of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, there is an opportunity to take stock and ask some tough questions.
Among them: why have the talks not succeeded? What might happen next? And what should J Street be doing in this period while there are no active negotiations?
Special Envoy Martin Indyk supplied some answers in a significant address on Thursday, May 8, to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. While he highlighted unhelpful moves made by both sides, he placed special emphasis on the destructive role of Israeli settlement expansion.
“The promoters of the settlement activity were the ones who were adamantly opposed to the negotiations, even though they were in a government that was committed to the negotiations. And it was that determination to use settlement activity as a way of sabotaging the negotiations that succeeded,” Indyk said.
Secondly, the two leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas, were unwilling to take the tough decisions necessary for success.
“It is easier for the Palestinians to sign conventions and appeal to international bodies.… It is easier for Israeli politicians to avoid tension in the governing coalition and for the Israeli people to maintain the current comfortable status quo,” he said.
So what now?
Indyk laid out some important accomplishments he said have been achieved over the past nine months in clearly defining the gaps between the parties on the core issues, and the unprecedented work that has been done to determine how best to meet Israel’s security requirements in the context of a two state solution. He held open the door to resume the effort – but he put the onus on the parties to decide to move ahead.
Obviously, the situation is in flux. The big danger is that the parties could embark on a series of tit-for-tat actions that would make the situation worse. Kerry has said he is mulling releasing details about the progress that was made in the talks. J Street has been urging him to go even further by setting forth in detail the terms of a final-status deal both sides could and should accept. Hopefully, this would ignite a public debate among both Israelis and Palestinians, which has been lacking in the past nine months.
In the weeks ahead, J Street’s role will be as important as ever. We’ll be urging Israelis, Palestinians and especially American officials and lawmakers to avoid more actions that push a two-state solution further away.
Congress will undoubtedly come under pressure to punish the Palestinians for any action they take to win international recognition. This would be short-sighted and self-defeating and would hurt Israelis as well as Palestinians by undermining stability and increasing the risk of renewed violence, which is the last thing anyone wants.
US law may also operate to cut aid benefiting Palestinians (and Israeli security) if Fatah and Hamas manage to form a unity government, as they have vowed to do by the end of this month. It will be important to assess the composition of such a government and whether it adheres to the principles laid down by the Quartet, namely renunciation of violence, recognition of Israel and acceptance of previous agreements.
We will urge the United States to use its influence on both parties to exercise restraint. Unfortunately, we can anticipate that the Israeli government will continue building and enlarging settlements. As Israel’s chief peace negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said on Friday, May 9, the settlements not only delegitimize Israel throughout the world but they are contrary to Israel’s democratic values.
Indyk also made this point, which J Street has highlighted since its inception: “rampant settlement activity … doesn’t just undermine Palestinian trust in the purpose of the negotiations, it can undermine Israel’s Jewish future,” he said. “If this continues, it could mortally wound the idea of Israel as a Jewish state. And that would be a tragedy of historic proportions.”
In short, these are challenging times for those who fear for Israel’s future and the prospects for peace. That makes our work even more vital as we navigate this period. But we do so knowing that the logic of our argument – shared by the US Government – will prevail. As Kerry stated, a two-state solution remains the only just and viable solution to this long conflict.
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Elsner is communications director for J Street