Approval by Arab nations opens door for Palestinians to enter indirect talks with Israel

Arab nations pave way for indirect Mideast talks

CAIRO — Approval by Arab nations opened the door Wednesday for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to enter four months of indirect, American-brokered peace talks with Israel.

The talks, likely to begin later this month, would break a 15-month freeze in peace negotiations and hand the Obama administration a first diplomatic achievement in the Israeli-Palestinian arena. However, another round of fruitless negotiations, following years of stymied peace efforts, could also prove perilous for both Israelis and Palestinians.

In nearly two decades of stop-and-go talks, failure has routinely triggered violence, In the current circumstances, the chances for a breakthrough are dim. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds more hardline views than his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, with whom Abbas failed to reach an agreement in 2008.

The indirect talks proposed by Washington are meant to break the impasse over the terms of resuming negotiations. For the past year, Abbas has refused to enter talks until Israel halts settlement construction, taking up land the Palestinians claim for their future state. Netanyahu has offering a partial halt to construction, which Abbas rejected as insufficient.

Obama’s Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, will shuttle between the sides. No date has been set for the indirect talks to begin, but expectations are for a quick resumption.

Netanyahu welcomed the Arab League decision, saying Israel has said repeatedly it is ready to resume talks without preconditions.

The standoff has left Abbas in a difficult situation, since he did not want to defy U.S. wishes for a resumption of talks, but also could not be seen as relenting on the settlement freeze.

The Palestinian leader sought Arab backing as additional political cover in case the U.S. effort fails. On Wednesday, 14 Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo gave the green light, with reservations.

“Despite the lack of conviction and seriousness from the Israeli side, the committee decides that it will give the indirect talks the chance as a last attempt and to facilitate the U.S. role,” the group said in a statement. The ministers said direct talks could only start once all settlement construction stops.

Such a freeze appears unlikely. Netanyahu insists he won’t stop building for Jews in east Jerusalem, the war-won sector of the city the Palestinians want as a capital. Israel annexed it after capturing the section in the 1967 war, but no other country accepts that. Unlike previous Israeli leaders, Netanyahu opposes giving Palestinians control of any part of the city.

His moratorium on housing starts in West Bank settlements ends in September, and plans for thousands more apartments await government approval.

In Damascus, Abbas’ Islamic militant rival Hamas denounced the Arab League decision, saying it gives Israel a cover to keep expanding settlements. Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has indirect veto power, disrupting earlier peace efforts with rocket fire on Israeli towns.

Mitchell arrives in the region on Monday. In other diplomatic moves, Vice President Joe Biden visits Israel and the Palestinian areas next week, and the “Quartet” of Mideast mediators — the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — meets in Moscow on March 19.

Netanyahu has stated he prefers direct peace talks, but said he was pleased with the Arab League decision for mediated talks.

“In the Middle East you need two to tango, but it could be that we need three to tango, and we might need to leapfrog at first,” he said, “but the obstacle isn’t and never was Israel.”

In recent days, the Israeli leader has taken steps seen as provocative by the Palestinians, such as including two West Bank shrines in Israel’s list of national heritage sites and insisting that Israel retain a presence in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley.

It’s not clear how the indirect talks would differ significantly from Mitchell’s previous trips when he shuttled fruitlessly between Abbas and Netanyahu.

Mitchell will likely spend more time in Israel and the West Bank in the next four months, but not be based there, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the specifics of Mitchell’s activities have not yet been determined.

Yossi Alpher, an Israeli analyst, said success is unlikely because the gaps between the two sides are too wide.

“It is extremely unlikely that Israeli-Palestinian final status talks can succeed under the present circumstances,” he said. “Is it better to have talks that fail once again, or not to have them, and work in alternative directions? Because I think their failure is a given.”

Karin Laub reported from Ramallah. Additional reporting by Anne Gearan in Washington, Matthew Lee in Brasilia, Brazil and Albert Aji in Damascus.