Author: Mohammad Ghazal
Source: The Jordan Times
Date: 2009-04-23
Arabs should build on the US stance on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict declared by President Barack Obama at his meeting with His Majesty King Abdullah Tuesday, analysts said Wednesday.
Obama's strong support for the two-state solution, which envisages the creation of an independent Palestinian state, and his commitment to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which he described Tuesday as a "very constructive start", are positive indictators that Arabs should build on to demonstrate their pro-peace stance in light of the Israeli rejection of the two-state solution and the peace overture, the analysts noted.
"The US policy is in the process of being formulated and Arabs should highlight their peace-loving stance to the international community and the US administration in particular… For the first time there are clear differences between the US and Israel," writer and political analyst Nasouh Majali told The Jordan Times Wednesday.
Israel's position which rejects the two-state solution and peace efforts is being exposed to the rest of the world, said Majali, adding that Arabs, led by King Abdullah, want to create an international position that is supportive of peace, thus placing Israel under pressure to comply to the will of the world community.
"Israel cannot play a political game for a long time against the will of America and the Arabs. Israel will find itself in a position against the whole world if it goes on with its hardline policies," Majali stressed.
On Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman branded the Arab Peace Initiative as “dangerous" because it requires the Jewish state to allow Palestinian refugees to return to its borders, Agence France-Presse reported.
Lieberman has refused to endorse the 2007 US-backed deal agreed to during a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to relaunch negotiations with the Palestinians.
His hardline position, coupled with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to publicly endorse the creation of a Palestinian state, has raised fears that Israel's new Cabinet is on a collision course with Obama's administration, which has vowed to push the faltering Middle East peace talks, according to the agency.
Political science professor at Yarmouk University Mohammad Momani said it is of great significance that the Arabs support Obama and commit to the peace plan.
"It is important not to give Israel any excuse to try to undermine the American determination and it is important that the Arabs continue to support the peace proposal and commit to peace, as otherwise Israel will say there is no partner on the Arab side," Momani said in a telephone interview.
It is also important to engage and involve pro-Israel institutions in the US in the process, said Momani, referring to the King's recent meeting with Jewish religious leaders in Washington.
Fares Breizat, political analyst and pollster, said the Arabs should "stick to their guns" and renew their commitment to the peace initiative to show the world and the US in particular that Israel is not serious about peace.
"Israel has managed to process the peace process. Israeli politicians have become masters in processing the process and society has learned to live with it and accommodate the status quo. On another front, the Arabs should lobby Brussels, London, Paris, Moscow and the UN General Assembly to expose Israel's shallow commitment to peace in the region," said Breizat in an e-mail sent to The Jordan Times.
More work must be done on American public opinion to create some sort of balance between the Israeli and the Arab narratives, said the pollster, adding that Arabs must get involved and remain persistent in lobbying Washington and the political community inside the Beltway.
Urging the Arabs to make use of what he said was a "less-biased" American stance towards Israel, MP Mamdouh Abbadi said: “The Arabs should make use of this fact. It is a big gain that they should build on."
"The ball is in the court of the Arabs at this stage and they should make use of that as indictors from the US are positive on this issue," said Abbadi.
But former Lower House speaker Abdul Latif Arabiyat criticised Obama's approach and expressed pessimism about a speedy solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
"The Arabs gave grand concessions and offered all that they could offer through the peace overture and Obama is asking for more, deeming the initiative only a start," Arabiyat said.
"As long as Israel is under the protection of the US, the Israelis will never change and they will not give anything and that should be taken into consideration," the Islamist added.
Israel's inflexibility and its rejection of peace are being exposed to the entire world, Arabiyat said, and only full support by the Arabs, the West and the US in particular for the peace initiative will further expose Israel's stubborn position, forcing it to change.
"Statements by Obama are meant to waste time and delay a solution to the conflict…I do not expect anything to happen in the near future unless the US stops protecting Israel and being its absolute supporter," Arabiyat told The Jordan Times.
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