The tripartite summit recently held in New York alongside the 64th session of the U.N. General assembly, and with the participation of President Mahmoud Abbas, U.S. President Barak Obama and the Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu, was viewed by many observers as merely a diplomatic gesture to Obama, and an appreciation nod from the Palestinian side to the efforts which the U.S. administration exerted to revive the slumbering peace process.
This summit, according to most analysts, was not based upon the outcome of the American efforts – albeit minimal, as a result of Netanyahu‘s insistence on settlement expansion, standing in the way of the legitimate Palestinian national rights and chasing the faded dreams of “Greater Israel.”
The Palestinian side has practically proved its commitment to the Road Map plan for peace, especially the security provisions.
Also, the institutions of a Palestinian independent state were strengthened, another demand slated in the plan.
The Israeli government, meanwhile, did not suffice itself with dodging all its obligations mentioned in the Road Map such as dismantling the settlement outposts erected since March 2001, retreating to the pre-September 2000 lines in the West Bank, and facilitating the establishment of a viable Palestinian state.
That government instead provided the settlement outposts with all means of survival, encouraged the construction of more outposts and built thousands of housing units in the existent settlements while planning to construct additional thousands in the near future.
No such idea as freezing settlement activities is entertaining Israeli officials’ minds.
Netanyahu’s government publicly and bluntly defies Obama’s administration, embarrasses it in front of the entire world, especially the countries waiting for a chance to challenge Washington, eying the Israeli position which mocks the Obama demands as an incentive to take similar stances towards the US – particularly with regard to the Iranian and North Korean nuclear files.
Netanyahu also underestimates the international community and the U.N. resolutions calling for exchanging the occupied land with a just and comprehensive peace.
As such, Netanyahu is challenging the entire world, not excluding U.S., the main ally and backer of Israel.
Consequently, there would be no use or meaning in any meeting that might be held as a diplomatic compliment to the U.S., with the absence of a substantial change in the Israeli stances, and without compliance to the demand of halting the settlements and demolishing the outposts as required as the first step of the Road Map.
All that might emerge from a summit is shedding a limelight on the Israeli arrogance, and the successive Israeli obstacles being laid in the path of peaceful solutions to the Palestinian cause and the Arab – Israeli conflict in general.
The international community, being challenged by Netanyahu, should realize he seriousness of that Israeli defiance and its potential risks on the security and peace in the region and the entire world.
The global society has all the means that could enable it to pressure Israel to understand that the price of a long-lasting occupation and settlements surpasses its economic and political capacities.
Yet the question is: What is the world waiting for before it at least hints that these means could be used? Israel is accelerating its settlement activities in a way that threatens to swallow the West Bank and overflow it with hundreds of settlements and hundreds of thousands of settlers – there are already more than half a million of them residing in this area. So when will the international community act? And when will the international silence and ignoring the Palestinian suffering end?