Around about the time of the two nuclear weapons conferences (Obama’s and Ahmadinejad’s) that came in the midst of the breakdown in US relations with Israel that had scuttled the “indirect” peace talks, the Iranian leader revealed that he had written to Obama:
[That he could] achieve Middle East peace if the US changes its policies toward Iran.
He also [said] resuming ties with Iran [was] the only chance for Obama to remain in power.
………………………………………………………………….
He implied that the main obstacle on the way of resuming ties with the United States was in fact the deep-set insecurity of the people.
He said that if only a “formula” could be found to safeguard Iran’s rights, the country would go ahead and resume co-operation with the US “right now”. [al Jazeera]
Now barely 2 weeks later comes this news via Debka File:
Palestinian Authority Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas stated Monday, April 26 that he is willing to go back to negotiations with Israel, without pre-conditions, if the Arab League’s monitoring committee session on May 1 approves. “Try me,” he said in an exclusive interview with Israel Channel 2 TV’s Ehud Yaari.
debkafile [sic] notes that Abbas appears to have changed direction after 15 months of stalling against US efforts to restart the talks on one pretext or another. The US Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, who left the Middle East Friday, April 23, announced he was returning to the region to continue his mission next Tuesday, May 4, which is three days after the Arab League meeting.
In answer to a question, Abbas said he had nothing against Binyamin Netanyahu and is ready to talk to him. He is Israel’s elected leader, said Abbas, and has a parliamentary majority.
He stressed that certain issues had been agreed and settled in talks with Netanyahu’s predecessor, Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni, then foreign minister. One of those issues was security in the areas to be handed over to the Palestinian state. It had been agreed that NATO personnel under US command would be deployed in the West Bank and along the Jordan River, he said.
Settlement blocs and territory swaps would be subject to negotiation between the Palestinians and Israel, said Abbas, and a solution could also be found for the Palestinian refugee problem.
Asked about Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayad’s pledge to establish a Palestinian state by 2011, Abbas said clearly: “We are against unilateral steps.”
Regarding the future of the Gaza Strip, he said there had been good progress in the quest for reconciliation between his Fatah movement and Hamas.Last Friday, the Palestinian leader speaking to his Fatah party appealed to President Barack Obama to “Impose a solution” of the Middle East conflict. He rejected out of hand a new Israeli proposal of temporary borders for a Palestinian state on 60 percent of the West Bank.
In the meantime, as debkafile [sic] reported, the Obama administration met Israel halfway on its demand for a construction freeze in East Jerusalem, accepting that Israel would quietly suspend building licencses [sic] and other permits for just four weeks, giving Mitchell a chance to persuade Abbas to joint US-moderated talks with Israel.
But there are other forces at work propelling the US and Israel into peace talks with the Palestinians: The situation in Egypt.
Now, as [President] Mubarak’s health fails, the U.S. and Israel are increasingly alarmed his death could produce a political eruption in long-repressed Egypt.
To read an assessment of this situation, see an article in from the Toronto Sun via Iran News from a journalist well-known for his expertise in middle east matters.
Eric Margolis is a columnist for The Toronto Sun. A veteran of many conflicts in the Middle East, Margolis recently was featured in a special appearance on Britain’s Sky News TV as “the man who got it right” in his predictions about the dangerous risks and entanglements the US would face in Iraq. His latest book is American Raj: Liberation or Domination?: Resolving the Conflict Between the West and the Muslim World
Stlll, we live in hope. Mitchell’s scheduled return is a good sign from Washington of willingness to continue. Ahmadinejad has been unusually quiet of late.
_____________________________________
HotAir – A Muslim, a Jew, and the PC police wander into a joke …
VotingFemale Speaks! – Heads Up DHS, Bertha Lewis is plotting racial violence and civil unrest
Posted on April 27, 2010