Collective Amnesia Spells Collective Disaster by David Singer

...If Obama and the Annapolis participants have conveniently forgotten that creating a “democratic Palestinian State” is fundamental to the conflict being ended – then they only have themselves to blame for the chaos and violence that will surely follow should Israel refuse to negotiate within a Kerry framework agreement that omits any reference to a democratic Palestinian State.International treachery and duplicity would surely have triumphed over international diplomacy.

David Singer..
J-Wire.com.au..
03 February '14..
H/T Daphne Anson

US Secretary of State John Kerry has missed his own deadline of 31 January by not releasing his eagerly anticipated framework agreement designed to help end the 130 years old Jewish-Arab conflict. It will now be released by 21 February according to US Envoy Martin Indyk.

Whilst speculation is rife as to its contents – it appears certain that there will be one crucial omission – that any Palestinian State created must be democratic – which could doom any further negotiations.

A democratic Palestinian state finds its genesis in the 2003 Bush Roadmap – the foundation which underpins the current negotiations. The Roadmap stated:

“A two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will only be achieved … through Israel’s readiness to do what is necessary for a democratic Palestinian state to be established,

“A settlement, negotiated between the parties, will result in the emergence of an independent, democratic, and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbours.”

The full text of the Roadmap was presented to Palestinian and Israeli leaders by the Quartet mediators – the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia – indicating strong international support for a democratic Palestinian State as the end game to success.

By 27 November 2007 – when negotiations under the Bush Road Map were non-existent – President Bush assembled the following star-studded list representing their designated countries and organisations to announce that negotiations were set to commence in December:

Description	Delegation	Title of Head of Delegation	Name
Parties	Israel	Prime Minister	Ehud Olmert
	Palestinian Authority	President	Mahmud Abbas
Quartet	United States	President	George W. Bush
	EU Commission	Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy	Benita Ferrero-Waldner
	EU High Rep	High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary General of the Council of the European Union	Javier Solana
	EU President (Portugal)	Minister of State and of Foreign Affairs	Luis Amado
	Russia	Minister for Foreign Affairs	Sergey V. Lavrov
	UNSYG	Secretary General	Ban Ki-moon
	Quartet Representative	Middle East Envoy	Tony Blair
Arab League Follow-up Committee	Algeria	Minister of State for Foreign Affairs	Mourad Medelci
	Bahrain	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa
	Egypt	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Ahmed Aboul Gheit
	Jordan	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Salaheddin Al-Bashir
	Lebanon	Minister of Culture	Tarek Mitri
	Morocco	Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation	Taieb Fassi Fihri
	Qatar	Minister of State for Foreign Affairs	Ahmed bin Abdulla Al-Mahmoud
	Saudi Arabia	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Saud Al-Faisal
	Sudan	Ambassador	John Ukec
	Syria	Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs	Fayssal Mekdad
	Tunisia	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Abdelwahab Abdallah
	Yemen	Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Expatriate Affairs	Abu Bakr al-Qirbi
	Arab League SYG	Secretary General	Amre Moussa
G-8, P-5	Canada	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Maxime Bernier
	China	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Yang Jiechi
	France	Minister of Foreign and European Affairs	Bernard Kouchner
	Germany	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Frank-Walter Steinmeier
	Italy	Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs	Massimo D’Alema
	Japan	Special Envoy for the Middle East	Tatsuo Arima
	United Kingdom	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs	David Miliband
Others	Austria Brazil	Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister of State for External Relations	Ursula Plassnik Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim
	Denmark	Minister for Foreign Affairs	Per Stig Moeller
	Greece	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Dora Bakoyannis
	India	Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences	Shri Kapil Sibal
	Indonesia	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Noer Hassan Wirajuda
	Malaysia	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Syed Hamid bin Syed Jaafar Albar
	Mauritania	Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation	Mohamed Saleck Ould Mohamed Lemine
	Mexico	Under Secretary	Lourdes Aranda
	Netherlands	Minister for European Affairs	Frans Timmermans
	Norway	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Jonas Gahr Store
	OIC	Secretary General	Ekemelddin Ihsanoglu
	Oman	Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs	Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdulla
	Pakistan	Foreign Secretary	Riaz Mohammad Khan
	Poland	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Radoslaw Sikorski
	Senegal	Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs	Cheikh Tidiane Gadio
	Slovenia	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Dimitrij Rupel
	South Africa	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma
	Spain	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Miguel Angel Moratinos
	Sweden	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Carl Bildt
	Turkey	Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chief EU Negotiator	Ali Babacan
	United Arab Emirates	Minister of Foreign Affairs	Abdulla bin Zayed Al Nahayan
	Vatican (Holy See)	Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Special Envoy	Pietro Parolin
Observers	IMF	Managing Director	Dominique Strauss-Kahn
	World Bank	President	Robert Zoellick

They all heard President Bush state the following:

“We meet to lay the foundation for the establishment of a new nation — a democratic Palestinian state that will live side by side with Israel in peace and security…

… Today, Palestinians and Israelis each understand that helping the other to realize their aspirations is key to realizing their own aspirations — and both require an independent, democratic, viable Palestinian state…No democratic State – no solution.

By 19 May 2011 Bush’s successor – President Obama – had started to vacillate:

“The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their full potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state.”

If Obama and the Annapolis participants have conveniently forgotten that creating a “democratic Palestinian State” is fundamental to the conflict being ended – then they only have themselves to blame for the chaos and violence that will surely follow should Israel refuse to negotiate within a Kerry framework agreement that omits any reference to a democratic Palestinian State.

International treachery and duplicity would surely have triumphed over international diplomacy.

Link: http://www.jwire.com.au/featured-articles/palestine-collective-amnesia-spells-collective-disaster-writes-david-singer/40165

David Singer is a Sydney Lawyer and Foundation Member of the International Analysts Network

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