Image Credit: US State Department 2007-02-22.
UN Resolution Shot Down First, Today 2008 Timeframe Declared Non-binding
BBSNews 2007-12-02 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today declared "no commitment" to a peace deal with the Palestinians in 2008 putting a quick and final end to Bush Administration hopes of an improved Middle East legacy. Reuters further reported Olmert's words to his Cabinet Sunday:
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Secretary Rice and Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faysal bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud during a press conference in 2006.
Image Credit: US State Department 2007-02-22. |
"We will make an effort to hold speedy negotiations in the hope we may conclude by the end of 2008, but certainly there is no commitment for a firm timetable for their completion ... Israel will not have to implement any commitment which emanates from the agreement before all the road map commitments have been met."
For those just tuning in, that does not mean that Israel will stop building settlements as required under their side of the "Road Map" agreement. According to USA Today:
"Olmert aides repeatedly have said Israel would fulfill all of its road map commitments, but have refused to explicitly say that all settlement construction will halt. For the time being, Israel maintains it has the right to build in existing settlements to account for ill-defined "natural growth" — something the road map explicitly bans."
Timeline:
Friday November 23, 2007 - "Saudi Arabia had not planned to attend the conference until today, Prince Saud said. The Kingdom decided to attend when it became apparent that there was Arab consensus on the issue, unprecedented public opinion and a genuine determination on the part of Israel, the US and the European Union to end the Palestinian-Israeli crisis." -- Saudi Arabia Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
Tuesday November 27, 2007 - "We agree to engage in vigorous, ongoing and continuous negotiations, and shall make every effort to conclude an agreement before the end of 2008." -- President George W. Bush.
Tuesday November 27, 2007 - "As President Bush said, Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas have agreed to an ambitious work plan to negotiate and resolve all outstanding issues, including all core issues, without exception, as specified in previous agreements, by the end of next year. These issues include borders, refugees, security, water, settlements, and Jerusalem." -- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, opening remarks to the Annapolis meeting.
Tuesday November 27, 2007 - "The United States and the Quartet have expressed their commitment to working towards achieving a final settlement of the Arab Israeli conflict within a specific time frame, and we shall hold them to that. The terms of reference for negotiations on all tracks are UN Security Council Resolutions 242, 338, 1397 and 1515, the Road Map and the Arab Peace Initiative." -- Saudi Arabia Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
Tuesday November 27, 2007 - "The conference began with the joint announcement by Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas that they will begin negotiations to establish a Palestinian state and to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace with the goal of concluding an agreement by the end of the year 2008." -- US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, closing remarks to the Annapolis meeting.
Thursday November 29, 2007 - "The United States presented on Thursday the UN Security Council with a draft resolution, requesting endorsement of the latest agreement at Annapolis by Israel and Palestine." -- Xinhua.
Friday November 30, 2007 - "The United States on Friday withdrew a UN Security Council draft resolution endorsing the Israeli-Palestinian Annapolis agreement after Israeli leaders objected to it. The move came just a few hours before the Security Council was to vote on the resolution." -- Haaretz.
Saturday December 1, 2007 - "President Abbas briefed King Abdullah on the recent peace conference in Annapolis. The King expressed the hope that these international efforts would result in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital." -- King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Saturday December 1, 2007 - "West Bank settlers threw stones at a Palestinian boy and stole his donkey in the village of Tuba on Saturday ... The Ta'ayush Arab-Jewish Partnership activists, upon receiving word of the settler aggression, marched to Havot to retrieve the donkey, but were stopped at the settlement entrance by police." -- Haaretz
Sunday December 2, 2007 - "The United States has not publicly clarified its position on allowing continued construction in the major settlement blocs despite plans to monitor and judge the legitimacy of such activity following last week's Annapolis conference." -- Jerusalem Post.
And today Ehud Olmert put the final nail in the coffin of Annapolis and any hope and dream that Bush and Rice had of achieving any real peace; Israel is not interested in peace. It is interested in keeping the occupied territorial expansion growing and taking every last little bit of viable land from the Palestinians. One wonders just how much more blatant can Israel get and still expect billions of US aid each year? And this has to be a major embarrassment for Saudi Arabia. All the hype, all the claims, all the possible hope offered the Palestinians came and went in record time.
We now return you to the regularly scheduled ongoing and decades long Israeli illegal occupation.