Israeli and Palestinian leaders have cleared the first hurdle in what promises to be difficult negotiations, vowing to try to settle core differences within a year and meet every two weeks.
In opening some four hours of talks in Washington on Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton acknowledged the “suspicion and skepticism” leading up to the meetings after scores of previous US administrations tried and failed to help resolve the decades-old Middle East conflict.
“I know the decision to sit at this table was not easy,” said Clinton, flanked by Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a chandeliered room at the State Department. “Thank you for your courage and commitment.”
The next round of talks was set for Sept. 14 and Sept. 15 in Egypt, possibly in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. More negotiations are due every two weeks after that, after the leaders agreed they could achieve a peace deal within a year.
However, Netanyahu returned home yesterday to confront internal opposition to his peace moves, just as Abbas faced harsh criticism for agreeing to the talks at all. Netanyahu did not speak to reporters on his plane or at the airport.
In Washington, he had talked of creating a Palestinian state, a phrase he uttered for the first time just last year after strident opposition to the concept for two decades, and called for “mutual and painful concessions from both sides.”
Most Israeli analysts admitted to not knowing what was really on Netanyahu’s mind. Writing from Washington, veteran Yediot Ahronot columnist Nahum Barnea was uncharacteristically ambivalent.
“If this was just for show, Netanyahu played it well,” Barnea wrote. “But perhaps this was not only a show. Not this time.”
Netanyahu’s Likud Party has been among the strongest backers of Israel keeping much or all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem and expanding Jewish settlements on land the Palestinians want for a future state.
Concessions of the type Netanyahu indicated, like giving up parts of the West Bank, while not sufficient for the Palestinians, would likely bring down his coalition government or force him to replace his hawkish partners with moderates.
Gilad Erdan, a Likud Cabinet minister, said Netanyahu would forge a middle path. He told Israel Radio that Netanyahu is committed to keeping as much of the West Bank as possible while finding a solution for living with the Palestinians.
“But the prime minister, unlike previous leaders, will not sign fictitious agreements that instead of bringing peace, brought terrorism and led to thousands of rockets being fired at us,” Erdan said.
Abbas has threatened to pull out of the talks if Netanyahu does not extend a partial West Bank settlement construction freeze set to expire at the end of the month.
Palestinian political activist Mustafa Barghouti joined a demonstration against resumption of the talks, though he has supported peace efforts in the past. He charged that Israel’s settlement construction is sabotaging chances for peace.
“We fear that all sides are losing the last opportunity for a two-state solution [of a Palestinian state next to Israel] … What we heard [in Washington] did not change our minds at all,” he said yesterday.
Barghouti said Abbas is in a weaker position now than any other Palestinian leader who has opened peace talks with Israel because of internal opposition to his concessions from elements of Abbas’ Palestine Liberation Organization as well as radicals like Hamas.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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