"Palestine Papers" expose US as dishonest peace broker

Council for the National Interest Foundation

Any remaining illusion that the United States has ever been an honest
broker in Israel-Palestine peace talks vanished yesterday. The Arab
news outlet Al-Jazeera released a nearly 1700 document dump on the
negotiations for a two state solution with a promise of more to come
over the next few days. It's disappointing, but too often the case,
that the U.S. mainstream media has not extensively covered the story.
But the explosive facts are now out there, visible for everyone to
see. The papers include background memos and reports of meetings and
negotiating positions focused on the time period 2008-09. Britain's
Guardian newspaper describes the documents as a chronicle of “the slow
death of the Middle East peace process.”

The Palestinian negotiators, it is now clear, offered far more both at
Annapolis and at Taba Egypt peace talks than anyone not directly
involved in the process believed at that time. They were willing to
cede control over most of East Jerusalem as well as nearly all the
ground on the West Bank on which the major Israeli settlements
contiguous to Jerusalem were located. The major Muslim holy site the
al-Aqsa mosque, Harm al’Sharif, would have been subject to what chief
PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat described as a “creative” solution,
possibly being placed under control of a special commission. Erekat
described the concessions as creating the “largest Jerusalem in
history” under Jewish control.

The Palestinian diaspora would have no right of return to their former
homes in Israel and Israel even floated the idea of expelling its Arab
citizens and resettling them on the West Bank. It was virtually a
complete capitulation, the result of a powerless illegitimate entity
that does not reflect the will of its people having to deal with a
very powerful opponent totally supported by the world’s superpower.
The Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni declared that the Palestinian
concessions were not enough as the Palestinians had balked at
conceding one major settlement Har Homa that blocked their access to
their rump portion of Jerusalem from the West Bank. Livni wanted 100%
and was supported in her obduracy by President George W. Bush and his
staff.

The Palestinian people have rightly been shocked by the concessions
being considered in their name, but it is a sign of the desperation of
their negotiators striving for a settlement at nearly any price as
they watch continuing acquisitions of land and settlement building on
the West Bank by the Israeli government.

If the Palestinian people believe they have been betrayed by their
leadership that is something they will have to deal with themselves.
But the American people have also been betrayed by a phony process
that has dragged on for years at great cost to the taxpayer while
inflicting terrible damage on the international standing of the United
States. Israel continues to receive $7 million a day directly from the
U.S. Treasury plus much more in earmarks and tax deductible donations
used to fund illegal settlements. Throw in the billions that have gone
to Egypt and Jordan to keep the peace with Israel, and the total costs
to the United States have been staggering.

The Council for the National Interest believes that the unconscionable
posturing and blank check granted to successive Israeli regimes by
both Democratic and Republican U.S. Administrations acting under
pressure from the Israel lobby has effectively destroyed any
conceivable peace process. The United States has an interest in
encouraging a just settlement for the Palestinians and Israelis, but
it has instead frittered away its opportunity to serve as an arbiter
of the situation by consistently throwing vast sums or money at the
problem while simultaneously embracing Israeli “security” positions.
Security is genuinely an issue, but it is the security of the American
people, who are targeted by terrorists as a result of Washington’s
embrace of Tel Aviv. American soldiers overseas are likewise the
targets of militant groups who use the repression of the Palestinians
as a recruiting tool and morale booster. Enough is enough. Israel is
not part of the United States and the damage deriving from the
relationship should be suggesting to everyone in congress and in the
media that it is time for a change of course.

We are witnessing the collapse of the misguided American project in
the Middle East and the specter of irreparable harm to U.S. security
and international standing. The Council for the National Interest is
calling for a new and rational direction. U.S. interests must come
first and they demand a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian question
that is rooted first and foremost in International law and consistent
with American professed respect for human rights. Anything less would
be another of a series of profound errors by successive U.S.
administrations.