Middle East Inside Line: Proximity Talks Continue; Israel's Lieberman & Palestine; Chomsky Barred

The Proximity Talks Continue: "U.S. envoy George Mitchell returns to mediate a second round of Middle East talks this week," announced Kurt Hoyer, the US Embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv. He said it was not yet determined on what day Mitchell will arrive.

Israel's Lieberman Responds to Russia, Turkey, and Syria: Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday "The sale of weapons [between Syria and Russia] does not contribute to building an atmosphere of peace." He asserted that Syria has no interest in peace and critiqued Russia's "hypocritical" stance on terrorism:

Russia, but also Egypt and Turkey as well as other countries, have a policy of differentiating between 'good' and 'bad' terrorism, between that which targets Israel and that which targets others.

Middle East Inside Line: Nakba Day/Independence Day; Deterioration in East Jerusalem; Israel’s Lieberman “An Imbecile”?

Lieberman also spoke about calls to include Hamas in discussions: "We will not accept any ultimatum with regard to Hamas, and we won't let this movement take part in any peace process."



Palestine's Erekat in Israel: The top negotiator of the Palestinian Authority, Saeb Erekat, gave a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv on Sunday. He called on both parties to make decisions and reiterated the Palestinian Authority’s desire for a just peace with Israel based on the two-state solution. He said:

I know that many in Palestine and Israel today doubt the possibility that peace can be achieved. I beg to differ. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There can be a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, with land swaps and solutions for the refugees.

Many people thought that there was no progress with the negotiations that have taken place over the years because Palestinians and Israelis have eyes that only see things that are not achieved. But I believe that Palestinians and Israelis, over the last decade of negotiations, have come a long, long way.

The Americans cannot make peace for us. Americans cannot make the concessions that are required by Palestinians or Israelis. Americans cannot make decisions for Palestinians and Israelis. Many people say that the proximity talks after 19 years is a regression, that Palestinians not sitting face-to-face with Israelis is a step backward. That can be argued, but another argument in the science of negotiations is that proximity is when two sides exhaust everything they have – they have turned over every stone, they cannot conclude what they are trying to achieve. Then comes a third party to do four tasks: to go between, to facilitate, to arbitrate and to mediate.

Considering a future Palestinian state, he added:

Limited arms doesn’t mean limited dignity. We will not accept Israeli presence in the Palestinian state.

I am not going to waste my time talking about interim solutions. If at the end of the day, as Palestinians, we are willing to accommodate Israeli requests and end our nakba [catastrophe], and you still insist that my hometown Jericho should be called Yeriho and Nablus be called Shechem, talk to me. I’m not scared. Now it is the moment of truth. Israelis need an end to conflict. Israelis need to understand that there is a leadership that is willing to [meet] the requirements for peace.

When asked if the PA would recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Erekat said:

Why are you asking me to join the Zionist movement? I don’t want to be a Zionist... Your name is the State of Israel. I recognize you as the State of Israel. If you want to call yourselves the Eternal, United, Historical, Biblical, Hebrew Nation of Jews from now to the future, who cares?

Chomsky Not Allowed into Israel and Palestine: Professor Noam Chomsky, an American linguist and left-wing activist, was denied entry into Israel and the West Bank on Sunday by the Interior Ministry. He was scheduled to deliver a lecture at Bir Zeit University near Jerusalem.

Interior Ministry Spokeswoman Sabine Haddad told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday evening that the initial decision to deny Chomsky entry was down to a "misunderstanding" and denied claims that Chomsky's name was on a blacklist of individuals prohibited from
entering the country. She said:

We are checking with the IDF's Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). If COGAT gives us the all clear, we will grant him entry.