Posted By Mahmoud Labadi

For the fourth time in four months U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is touring the Middle East Region in a high diplomatic mission.. She was well advised to start by the biggest and the most influential Arab country, Egypt. In the Southern city of Aswan Mrs. Rice met with foreign ministers and security chiefs of the so called Arab Quartet: Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates classified as the friends of the United States to discuss peace in the Middle East. Her present mission to the region is to revive the long-dormant Arab Peace plan floated by the Saudi King Abdallah five years ago. A plan neglected by the U.S. and despised by Israel. She said that her present diplomatic push is in conformity with President Bush’s Statement about a two-states solution for the most intractable conflict in the world. “It is extremely important that there be a political horizon for the Palestinian people”, Rice said in Ramallah. “And I sincerely believe that in the future the parties themselves can talk about that political horizon among themselves”, she continued.

The latest flurry of diplomatic efforts has been described as the biggest push of Israeli Palestinian peace since talks under Bill Clinton’s administration collapsed more than six years ago. David Ignatius from the Washington Post described her incremental approach “step-by-step diplomacy” as following the foot steps of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who served in the seventies under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Mrs. Rice threw the ball in the Arab playground by asking them to work out a mechanism for the Arab peace initiative.

On the other hand , the Israelis were little cautious about Rice’s initiative and started as usual to put sticks in the wheel of her new diplomatic mission. Before coming to the region they started their untiring maneuvers and delaying tactics by asking the Arabs to modify their Initiative to make it more acceptable to the Israelis. They asked the Arabs to drop the issue of Palestinians refugees according to UN resolution 194 asking for their repatriation and/or compensation.
On Arab level, Amr Moussa the Secretary General of the Arab League responded to Israeli demands of modifying the Saudi Initiative in a clear statement. He said that Arab states had no intention of modifying their initiative to make it palatable to Israel. The same statement was given by the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud Al Faisal who rejected any modification to the Arab Peace Plan and said that there will be no change in the Arab Initiative which includes the withdrawal from all Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967: The Golan Heights, the West Bank including East-Jerusalem and Gaza, and South Lebanon. 

The Arab foreign ministers endorsed the Arab peace plan and the Jordanian Foreign Minister Abd il Ilah Khatib said after the meeting of the ministers before the Summit that they renewed their endorsement to the Saudi plan without amendment and in its initial form. The Arab ministers also decided to create working groups to hold contacts with all players in the Middle East peace process, including Israel, Khatib said.

The diplomatic drive gained momentum on March 26, 07 when Israel welcomed the idea of regional peace Summit. Olmert responded that he “would not hesitate” to take part in a regional summit including Saudi Arabia. Such a spectacular step could be considered as a breakthrough in favor of Israel, especially if Saudis and Israelis were to meet publicly, and nothing happens on the peace level. This would enable Israel to pick up the fruits of the current diplomatic drive without paying the price of peace in return. 

On the Palestinian level, Olmert however, is carrying on Israel’s traditional approach towards Palestinians in the occupied territories. His repressive and expansionist measures on the ground continue with the same tempo. Jewish wild settlers are on their way to resettle down in the formerly evacuated settlement of Homesh South of Jenin. The Wall construction and the isolation of East Jerusalem is going on with the same speed.

He rejected to deal with the Palestinian National Unity Government unless Hamas recognizes explicitly Israel’s “right to exist”. An eternal argument used by Israel to evade the liabilities of Peace. He also refused to transfer collected Palestinian tax money to the new Palestinian Government, an amount roughly estimated by $ 800 m. Palestinian GDP per head shrank 10% last year (2006) and the number of families living below the poverty line rose by 50% due to drastic increase in the number of checkpoints and other closures in the West Bank and a clamp down on the flow of goods in and out of Gaza. The Palestinian economy retracted by 30% due to the loss of jobs.

Olmert even asked the Quartet countries to continue their boycott against the new National Unity government. However , his one year solid front against the Palestinian government started to crumble, and the Europeans refused to continue dancing on Olmert’s tunes. Only Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor remained loyal to Olmert’s principles during her visit to the region in early April and asked the Palestinian underdog to show good will towards his oppressor. The Russians moderated their position towards the Unity Government. Norwegians and Swedish government officials even established direct contacts with Hamas ministers and were punished by Olmert for their dissent. Britain and the UN signaled flexibility, while the U.S. reacted coolly, but decided to meet non-Hamas Ministers. The French Government will meet moderate ministers who don’t belong to Hamas, which is a source of embarrassment to Olmert and his Foreign Minister Zippi Livni. 

Meanwhile, the Arab summit of Riyadh created some kind of optimism by renewing the Arab Peace Initiative floated in 2002 in Beirut. The creation of Arab ministerial committees to function as mechanism for the implementation of the peace plan was well accepted. Olmert seized the opportunity in the presence of Mrs. Merkel to launch an appeal to moderate Arab states including the Saudis to meet in an international Summit. But the Saudis responded by a strongly worded statement saying: “Israel should understand that peace requires it to put an end to violations, repressions and constant inhuman practices against the Palestinian People before any other matter”. The Saudi cabinet made clear that the Kingdom is not likely to make any gesture toward Israel unless it initiates significant progress toward establishing a Palestinian state and giving up captured Arab lands. 

Fouad Saniora, the Lebanese Prime Minister said Israel must accept the Arab peace offer unequivocally. “I think it is about time for Israel to realize that eventually it is important to establish real peace in the region and accept the Arab peace plan in its entirety, he said in Beirut.
Other moderate Arab states such as Egypt and Jordan responded in a chilly way and said they will not give credit to Olmert’s call without anything concrete in return. To pick up the fruits of peace Olmert has to plant the peace tree first, and without a peace tree there will be no fruits. It seems that the long expected harvest season has not come yet, and the political horizon is not yet in the offing. 

* Mahmoud Labadi served as the spokesperson of the PLO in Lebanon until 1983. He was the director general of the Palestinian Legislative Council until his retirement in 2005.

©  EsinIslam.Com

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