U.S. efforts to restart Mideast peace process stumbling
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Nothing to offer?
Samir Awwad, a professor of international relations at Birzeit University in the West Bank, told Xinhua that the U.S. is losing its brokering power in the Middle East peace process.
"We can see that the U.S. is trying to buy influence on the Israeli side and the Israelis failed to refuse Washington's interference in the Palestinian-Israeli conflicts," he said, adding that the Palestinians don't hold U.S. intervention in high esteem anymore.
Much of the problem came down to the fact that there is very little, if anything, the Palestinians want the U.S. to deliver, said Awwad.
"Palestinians demanded things that will enable them to reach a peace agreement with Israel, which ultimately fall under the control of Israel, not the U.S. and not the international community," Awwad said.
The main demand by the Palestinians is to completely end the settlement activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which they see as their future capital.
The fact is that the U.S. pressure is not as effective as it used to be, said Awwad, adding what needs to be done is to enable international law to become effective, but this is something the U. S. can't do.
Asked if there was any possibility that the U.S. in the future might be able to return to a more influential position, Awwad said this was very unlikely as "all politics are local politics," even if the U.S. President Barack Obama would like to pursue a certain agenda in the Middle East, he still needs to consider such internal factors as the U.S. Congress and lobbyists.
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