Looking for Trouble

Mideast peace efforts take another hit

More bad news came today for peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians. The Israeli foreign minister, just hours before meeting with President Obama’s special envoy on Mideast peace, George Mitchell, said there is no chance of reaching a final agreement with the Palestinians in the near future.

“Anyone who says that within the next few years an agreement can be reached ending the conflict … simply doesn’t understand the situation and spreads delusions, ultimately leading to disappointments and an all-out confrontation here,” right-wing Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, according to news reports.

Lieberman said the two sides should instead come up with a long-term interim arrangement that would ensure prosperity, security and stability, the Associated Press reported. He recommended leaving the toughest issues, the status of Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees who lost homes amid war, to some time in the distant future. This is a position that the Palestinians have already strongly rejected.

Lieberman’s statements, a rejection of Obama’s efforts to bring about a resumption of peace talks, could also be a reaction to the European Union actions on a controversial U.N. report that harshly criticized Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

The EU gave its backing on Thursday to the report and offered praise for its chief author, saying the document is “worthy of consideration.”

“It is worthy of consideration needless to say, I think Mr. Goldstone is a person of high credibility and high integrity and accordingly his report carries weight,” Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt – whose country holds the EU presidency – told reporters in Stockholm, according to Agence France Presse (AFP).

The report by a fact-finding mission led by former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone condemned both Israel and Palestinian leaders for war crimes during Israel’s military invasion of Gaza from December 27 to January 18, but it primarily blasted Israel for “actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity.”

The 22-day conflict that saw more than 1,400 Palestinians killed, the great majority civilians, and only 13 Israelis killed, the majority soldiers.

Israel has condemned the report for its bias and even Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been pressured into holding off on further action on the report so that current peace efforts wouldn’t be jeopardized. The report had called for the U.N. Security Council to refer allegations of war crimes to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if either side failed to investigate and prosecute suspects.

The only sign of hope in the Middle East seems to be the report saying that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, which fought a week-long civil war in 2007 that killed over 100 people, are due to sign a deal later this month which is designed to pave the way for a unity government.