U.S. says ready to talk Mideast peace; Abbas calls for conference

[webfact]

U.S. says ready to talk Mideast peace; Abbas calls for conference

By Michelle Nichols

 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a meeting of the United Nations (UN) Security Council at UN headquarters in New York, U.S., February 20, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

 

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States declared at the United Nations on Tuesday it was "ready to talk" with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who rejected U.S.-led Middle East peace efforts as "impossible" after Washington's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

 

During a rare U.N. Security Council address, Abbas instead called for an international conference to be held by mid-2018 to kick-start the stalled peace process with Israel and create a "multilateral mechanism" to oversee it. He left the chamber before U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley spoke.

 

Palestinians view the Trump administration's intentions on Middle East peace with deep skepticism after Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and initiated the move of the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv.

 

"Our negotiators are sitting right behind me, ready to talk. But we will not chase after you. The choice, Mr. President, is yours," said Haley, referring to Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, and U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt.

 

Kushner and Greenblatt are working on a new peace plan and met with the 15 Security Council ambassadors behind closed doors after the public meeting on Tuesday. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last week the plan was "fairly well advanced." There has neen little detail on the plan so far.

 

White House spokesman Josh Raffel said a peace plan would be presented "when it is done and the time is right." But following Trump's decision, the Palestinians no longer view the United States as a neutral negotiator.

 

"We met with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, four times in 2017, and we have expressed our absolute readiness to reach a historic peace agreement," Abbas said. "Yet this administration has not clarified its position. Is it for the two-state solution, or for one-state?"

 

Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be its capital. The Palestinians want the eastern part of the city as the capital of a future independent state of their own that would include the West Bank and Gaza.

 

Jerusalem is home to sites holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians.

 

The Trump administration has given qualified support to the two-state solution, saying it would back it if the parties agreed to it.

 

Abbas, who shunned a visit by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence to the region last month, said the conference should include the Palestinians, Israel, the five permanent U.N. Security Council members - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - the European Union and the United Nations.

 

French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre said Paris was open to studying Abbas' suggestions. Deputy British U.N. Ambassador Jonathan Allen described U.S. leadership on the issue as "indispensable."

 

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said Abbas was part of the problem, not the solution, and that the "only way to move forward is direct negotiations" between Israel and the Palestinians.

 

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the so-called Quartet - made up of the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the EU - and the League of Arab States could play a role in kick-starting the stalled peace process.

 

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland in Washington; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Jonathan Oatis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-02-21

[halloween]

Well that's a load off my mind. the Great Trumpet is going to solve the problems in the M.E.

[ezzra]

Not very likely and not because of Trump or any other head of state, the Arab/Muslim world will not allow the Palestinians to have peace with Israel and forgo all the hate and loathing of many generations who thrives on vilifying Israel and the jews, not to mention the loss of billions in aids now that the palestinians

will be 'refugees' any longer after being one for 75 years.....

[boomerangutang]

Kushner, the guy without security clearance (and no hope of ever getting it), and near-zero experience with diplomacy - is going to head the US delegation.  Boy, that's confidence-building.

 

He's more likely to talk to people privately - about real estate deals and/or how to get billions of dollars to get bailed out of his failed 666 Park Avenue spec deal in NYC.  Kushner always puts his (and his step-dad's) real estate finagling at the top of his priorities.  Money money money.   He did the same with Xi, talking with him in private, with no other Americans present (similar to Trump talking privately with Putin).  Xi had Chinese agents listening in with his conversations with Kushner (similar to how Putin had a Russian agent in attendance with his private talk with Trump).

 

When such meetings happen, Kushner (and Trump) can talk all they want about real estate deals and giving free passports to select people - for favors.  Similarly, Kushner and Trump can talk about getting questionable loans and/or ask about what sort of dirt the adversaries may have on them - all the sorts of things they don't want Americans knowing about.

 

On the other side of the coin, when Palestinians or Russians or Chinese (depending on who the meeting is with) ....decide to make a statement about what was being discussed, the American in the conversation is just one person, whereas the foreigner is part of a delegation.  Newspapers will go with what the delegation declares happened, ....not necessarily what the American individual says happened. 

 

When Xi spoke privately with Kushner (with Chinese agents listening in), Xi and his agents went and reported that there were some business deals discussed.  Kushner denied it.  Who you gonna believe?

 

Trump Sr and his Texas lap dog Tillerson are dismantling the State Dept.  The US doesn't have ambassadors (and much of their staff) in around half the countries ww.  Trump has disdain for the State Dept and the FBI and CIA.  He contradicts his top people when they make statements about US policy at int'l meetings.  In the OP, Palestinian boss says he doesn't have a clue what the US wants in the M.East.    For those, and other reasons, the US is fast slipping down in respect and credence, as seen from abroad. 

 

The US might as well send a cardboard cut-out of Ronald McDonald to int'l meetings, with a boombox alongside playing a tape loop of Trump saying, "You know, I'm like a smart person.  I have the biggest red button.  I'm a stable genius."

[boomerangutang]

Trump's way of dealing with international issues:

 

#1.  First denigrate or offend the other party.  He did it with Mexicans.  He did it with Palestinians.

 

#2.  Then act buddy-buddy.  Unfortunately (for the US) by this time, the other group know how quickly Trump can switch from nice guy to ogre. 

 

#3.  Get distracted.  Claim 'no collusion!'  even if it's completely off-topic.    

 

#4.  Go back to #1.  

 

Note regarding #3:  Yesterday WH insiders said they were relieved by the FL HS massacre, because it diverted from Trump's many problems.

[SOTIRIOS]

...lost in the translation...if you watched the whole thing....

 

...rulings were made by the UN effectively solving the 'problem'....

 

...the rulings have been ignored and not enforced....for decades....

 

...so the man...and his people....have a right to ask for the involvement of the international community...

 

...stereotypes perpetrated and perpetuated by Hollywood and mainstream media, controlled by.....aside....

 

...interesting fact...the Palestinians are descendants of the Canaanites and have lived in the region for over 5000 years...

 

From Live Science:

 

The Canaanites were people who lived in the land of Canaan, an area which according to ancient texts may have included parts of modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. 

[Kiwiken]

Which piece of the Middle East is the US negotiating for. I thought they already took the bits they wanted

[Morch]

9 hours ago, ezzra said:

Not very likely and not because of Trump or any other head of state, the Arab/Muslim world will not allow the Palestinians to have peace with Israel and forgo all the hate and loathing of many generations who thrives on vilifying Israel and the jews, not to mention the loss of billions in aids now that the palestinians

will be 'refugees' any longer after being one for 75 years.....

 

There is no such unified or agreed upon position as alleged in the Arab/Muslim world. Contrary to the above, there are Arab/Muslim countries with standing peace agreements with Israel, others who cooperate with it on other levels. Then there are those who are outright hostile to Israel. Hardly same same. If anything, the back story in this regard is Abbas's frustration with the lack of concrete and enthusiastic support from the Arab/Muslim world. 

 

 

[Morch]

 

@SOTIRIOS

 

Speaking of "lost in translation", any chance of getting one for your post?

[Morch]

1 hour ago, Kiwiken said:

Which piece of the Middle East is the US negotiating for. I thought they already took the bits they wanted

 

Other than the usual trolling, what "bits" of the ME did the US "take"?

[ilostmypassword]

9 hours ago, ezzra said:

Not very likely and not because of Trump or any other head of state, the Arab/Muslim world will not allow the Palestinians to have peace with Israel and forgo all the hate and loathing of many generations who thrives on vilifying Israel and the jews, not to mention the loss of billions in aids now that the palestinians

will be 'refugees' any longer after being one for 75 years.....

If anything, the opposite is the case. The most powerful Arab nations have a defacto alliance with Israel because of Iran. It's the non-Arab players, Iran, particularly, and Turkey, that seem more intent on stymieing peace efforts. Not that there's much chance of a peace agreement anyway. There are too many Israeli settlements now to make that a realistic prospect. 

[Morch]

A rather lame attempt by Abbas to head off the upcoming(?) presentation of the Trump administration peace plan. Not that I hold much stock with that, but what Abbas "offers" is a worn mish-mash of old ideas and slogans, served with the usual distortions.

 

There is nothing in Abbas's speech which suggests any acceptance whatsoever of Palestinian failures with regard to the conflict's resolution. It's all other parties fault. Not a very convincing point of view, given a lot of the related details are public knowledge, nor a very enticing one if negotiation, rather than winning was the point. Whenever Abbas gets into a state, he goes on forays into pseud-historical nonsense realms, neither serving the Palestinian cause, nor painting him as a reliable party. 

 

And then there's that standing issue - the Palestinian are divided into two main factions. Abbas represents one of them, and even that status may be questioned. Making statements on behalf of the Palestinian people in general, without it being clear that they can or will be accepted and supported, is misleading. Perhaps the Palestinian first putting their own house in order would be better.

 

I do get it that the Trump administration managed to alienate the Palestinians, by placing that last straw, in the form of the Jerusalem announcement. Fair enough. But it's not like the "alternative" suggested got a way better track record, or is not hampered by other issues.

 

 

[Sir Dude]

On the one hand, it's good that they are at least ready to talk. However, on the other, the differences between them are wider than the Grand Canyon is plus both sides have hardly shown any willingness to compromise or that they are ready for real peace deals etc. They should have sealed it under Clinton when when Arafat and Ehud Barak got to within a handshake of it in the 90s.

[Elfin]

12 hours ago, ezzra said:

now that the palestinians

will be 'refugees' any longer after being one for 75 years.....

Can you please explain the meaning of this clause?