Monday, February 3, 2014

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:



DescriptionDelegationTitle of Head of DelegationName
PartiesIsraelPrime MinisterEhud Olmert
Palestinian AuthorityPresidentMahmud Abbas
QuartetUnited StatesPresidentGeorge W. Bush
EU CommissionCommissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood PolicyBenita Ferrero-Waldner
EU High RepHigh Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary General of the Council of the European UnionJavier Solana
EU President (Portugal)Minister of State and of Foreign AffairsLuis Amado
RussiaMinister for Foreign AffairsSergey V. Lavrov
UNSYGSecretary GeneralBan Ki-moon
Quartet RepresentativeMiddle East EnvoyTony Blair
Arab League Follow-up CommitteeAlgeriaMinister of State for Foreign AffairsMourad Medelci
BahrainMinister of Foreign AffairsKhalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa
EgyptMinister of Foreign AffairsAhmed Aboul Gheit
JordanMinister of Foreign AffairsSalaheddin Al-Bashir
LebanonMinister of CultureTarek Mitri
MoroccoMinister of Foreign Affairs and CooperationTaieb Fassi Fihri
QatarMinister of State for Foreign AffairsAhmed bin Abdulla Al-Mahmoud
Saudi ArabiaMinister of Foreign AffairsSaud Al-Faisal
SudanAmbassadorJohn Ukec
SyriaDeputy Minister of Foreign AffairsFayssal Mekdad
TunisiaMinister of Foreign AffairsAbdelwahab Abdallah
YemenMinister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Expatriate AffairsAbu Bakr al-Qirbi
Arab League SYGSecretary GeneralAmre Moussa
G-8, P-5CanadaMinister of Foreign AffairsMaxime Bernier
ChinaMinister of Foreign AffairsYang Jiechi
FranceMinister of Foreign and European AffairsBernard Kouchner
GermanyMinister of Foreign AffairsFrank-Walter Steinmeier
ItalyVice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign AffairsMassimo D’Alema
JapanSpecial Envoy for the Middle EastTatsuo Arima
United KingdomSecretary of State for Foreign AffairsDavid Miliband
OthersAustria
Brazil
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Minister of State for External Relations
Ursula Plassnik
Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim
DenmarkMinister for Foreign AffairsPer Stig Moeller
GreeceMinister of Foreign AffairsDora Bakoyannis
IndiaMinister of Science and Technology and Earth SciencesShri Kapil Sibal
IndonesiaMinister of Foreign AffairsNoer Hassan Wirajuda
MalaysiaMinister of Foreign AffairsSyed Hamid bin Syed Jaafar Albar
MauritaniaMinister of Foreign Affairs and CooperationMohamed Saleck Ould Mohamed Lemine
MexicoUnder SecretaryLourdes Aranda
NetherlandsMinister for European AffairsFrans Timmermans
NorwayMinister of Foreign AffairsJonas Gahr Store
OICSecretary GeneralEkemelddin Ihsanoglu
OmanMinister Responsible for Foreign AffairsYusuf bin Alawi bin Abdulla
PakistanForeign SecretaryRiaz Mohammad Khan
PolandMinister of Foreign AffairsRadoslaw Sikorski
SenegalSenior Minister and Minister of Foreign AffairsCheikh Tidiane Gadio
SloveniaMinister of Foreign AffairsDimitrij Rupel
South AfricaMinister of Foreign AffairsNkosazana Dlamini Zuma
SpainMinister of Foreign AffairsMiguel Angel Moratinos
SwedenMinister of Foreign AffairsCarl Bildt
TurkeyMinister of Foreign Affairs and Chief EU NegotiatorAli Babacan
United Arab EmiratesMinister of Foreign AffairsAbdulla bin Zayed Al Nahayan
Vatican (Holy See)Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Special EnvoyPietro Parolin
ObserversIMFManaging DirectorDominique Strauss-Kahn
World BankPresidentRobert 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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