Israel unlikely to annex West Bank
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Xinhua, September 21, 2011
Diplomatic activity
Nevertheless, hoping to avoid having to cast a veto, which could be seen as a failure for U.S. diplomacy, U.S. officials have been trying to convince Abbas to return to the direct talks with Israel.
The negotiations broke down in September 2010, after Abbas refused to resume talks with Israel while the Jewish settlement construction was going on.
However, on Monday it was reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has softened his stance on the issue to allow the Middle East Quarter, the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, to put forward a new initiative that could function as a basis for new negotiations.
The Israeli envoy to the United Nations, Ron Prosor was even more forthcoming by saying that Israel was "ready for negotiations with no conditions even early tomorrow morning" with Abbas, in an interview with Israeli army radio on Tuesday.
Prosor said attempts were being made to hold a last-minute meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu before the two address the UN General Assembly on Friday.
Professor Bassem Zbeidi of Birzeit University said that Abbas knows that negotiations will resume one day, because even a UN- backed declaration of independence won't change the situation on the ground.
Zbeidi argued that the main question now is whether or not the remarks by Israeli officials are a sign that they have changed their stance.
"Are they ready to change the course of the negotiations to make them more serious and express actual willingness that they will give something to Abbas? For myself, I very much doubt that," Zbeidi said.
He argued that what really determine the Israeli politics are the internal dynamics of the government. "Netanyahu is affiliated with a coalition that is made up of settlers, Lieberman and four other ministers who reside in illegal settlements in the West Bank," he argued.
"It's really unlikely that such a government will even respond positively to (U.S. President) Obama or to any other pressure," Zbeidi said.
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