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Analysis: Netanyahu's overture likely too little
By STEVEN GUTKIN,Associated Press Writer AP - Tuesday, June 16
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's grudging endorsement of Palestinian independence _ couched in layers of stifling conditions _ does not necessarily signal the hawk-to-moderate transformation that hard-line Israeli leaders before him have undergone.
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Netanyahu's major policy speech was as notable for what it did not say, as for what it did: No acceptance of previous peace strategies. No reference to any Muslim connection to the land. No talk of uprooting Jewish settlements to make room for a would-be Palestinian state.
And he pointedly avoided mentioning an Arab peace initiative that offers to trade normalized ties with the entire Arab world for a complete Israeli withdrawal from lands captured in 1967, a demand Israel rejects.
Palestinians called Netanyahu's speech a nonstarter that will not serve as a basis for talks, and Arab leaders rejected it as disappointing and not conducive to peace.
Netanyahu's demand that Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people _ essentially giving up any right of return for Palestinian refugees _ "scuttles the chances for peace," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Monday.
"The call to amend the Arab initiative and drop the right of return will not find anyone in Egypt or elsewhere to agree to it," the state-run MENA news agency quoted Mubarak as saying.
It's also unclear if Netanyahu uttered the words "Palestinian state" because he really believes in one, or because he is trying to get out of a tight spot with President Barack Obama.
Yet for all the criticism of Netanyahu, some of Israel's most important concessions for peace in the past _ including its withdrawals from the Sinai peninsula and the Gaza Strip _ have been carried out by right-leaning leaders.
Obama's next moves could well determine whether Netanyahu finally makes the leap taken by past Israeli peace makers or remains trapped in a futile attempt to please both the White House and his own hawkish coalition.
The Obama administration welcomed Netanyahu's endorsement of Palestinian statehood as an "important step forward." But it's unlikely Obama, whose not-so-subtle pressure appears to have caused the Israeli leader's change of heart, will back away from his demand that Israel freeze all settlement construction.
The European Union also said Netanyahu's endorsement was a step in the right direction, but questioned his stance on other disputed peace issues such as Jewish settlements and Jerusalem's future status.
Netanyahu's speech Sunday night drew widespread praise from hard-line politicians in Israel for its nationalistic overtones, but was roundly criticized by liberals disappointed by its many caveats.
The prime minister said existing settlements should be allowed to expand while negotiations proceed. He spoke at length about Jews' biblical right to the Land of Israel, Palestinians' refusal to recognize Israel's legitimacy and the dangers Israel faces if it withdraws from territory.
He demanded that Palestinians not only recognize Israel's right to exist, but to exist as a Jewish state _ another way of saying Palestinian refugees must give up their hopes of returning to lost homes inside Israel.
He said Jerusalem _ claimed by both peoples _ must remain the undivided capital of Israel. He said a future Palestinian state must not have an army and must be "without control of its airspace."
In truth, some of Netanyahu's conditions were not surprising or new. Past peace talks did not envision a Palestinian state with offensive military capabilities. And a number of Palestinian leaders have privately acknowledged that millions of refugees and their descendants are unlikely to return to Israel in a final peace deal.
"The real difference lies in the tone _ in the degrading and disrespectful nature of Netanyahu's remarks," wrote Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar in the Haaretz daily. "That's not how one brings down a wall of enmity between two nations, that's not how trust is built."
Even under the best of circumstances, achieving peace between Israelis and Palestinians would be extremely complicated, requiring excruciating negotiations over such perplexing issues as how to share Jerusalem and its holy sites, set final borders, deal fairly with Palestinian refugees and ensure Israel's security.
It would certainly take a lot more than Netanyahu saying the words "Palestinian state," which one Israeli writer said were "uttered like a rotten tooth pulled from its socket without anesthesia."
Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian negotiator, said Netanyahu did not really accept a Palestinian state.
"Instead, he announced a series of conditions and qualifications that render a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian state impossible," he said.
Former President Jimmy Carter, on a visit to Israel, said Monday the speech "raised many new obstacles to peace that had not existed with previous prime ministers."
Carter said he remained optimistic, however. He recalled how another hawkish Israeli leader, Menachem Begin, ultimately decided to make peace with his Egyptian counterpart in a historic 1979 peace deal that Carter himself brokered.
"We had even greater differences between me and ... Begin when he was first elected. But we gave ground on both sides, we sought common ground and he ... was able to reach an accommodation ... with Anwar Sadat," Carter said.
____
Steven Gutkin is The Associated Press bureau chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories.
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