Current Events Bronner, Ethan. (2010,

Current Events

Bronner, Ethan. (2010, December 8). Israel sees hopeful signs in collapse of peace talks.

The New York Times. Retrieved December 8, 2010 at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/world/middleeast/09mideast.html?hp

Bronner, Ethan. (2010, December 8). Israel sees hopeful signs in collapse of peace talks.

The New York Times. Retrieved December 8, 2010 at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/world/middleeast/09mideast.html?hp

The grim title of Ethan Bronner's article from the New York Times -- "Israel sees hopeful signs in collapse of peace talks" -- is slightly softened by the author's overall portrayal of the current impasse in the peace negotiations in the Middle East. Originally, the Obama administration hoped that Israel would cease to build settlements in the disputed areas of the West Bank and Gaza, because this was a precondition of the Palestinians of beginning a new round of negotiations. The Administration staked its hopes on negotiating a "partial, one-time, 90-day Israeli settlement construction freeze in exchange for American military hardware and diplomatic guarantees" for Israel (Bronner 2010:1).

However, even when the agreement was still viable, many analysts were skeptical. What could 90 days of talks accomplish that 17 years had not? An additional, 90 day period of negotiations would likely accomplish little, and the U.S. would give up a great deal of leverage in terms of pressuring Israel in future talks. Now it appears that even the offered concessions were not enough to placate Israel, perhaps due to the influence of pro-settler members of the current Israeli cabinet. In desperation, the Administration has tried to move forward, urging the Palestinians to negotiate anyway. The Israelis, in an attempt to silence their critics point to the fact that "the Palestinians had insisted that there could be no direct talks without a settlement freeze, yet they [the Palestinians] waited nine months into the last such freeze before agreeing to negotiate. Now the Administration has demanded "substantive engagement from each side right away through American officials" (Bronner 2010:1).

Rather than focusing on settlements alone, Administration officials are instead acknowledging that a whole host of issues must be dealt with, including how Jerusalem will be shared between the two groups, the borders between the proposed states, security issues and the rights of Palestinian refugees. It is hoped that less politically incendiary issues that are of equal significance to the Palestinians will be conceded, quietly by the Israelis. For example: "a new Palestinian city waiting to be built needs Israeli agreement for a key access road and that will probably now come, they [the Israelis] said; more roadblocks and checkpoints can be removed and more responsibility handed over to Palestinian security forces" (Bronner 2010:1).