CMEP Bulletin: The Status of Negotiations: Looking Forward and Looking Back
New Churches for Middle East Peace bulletin
Where negotiations stand
This week Middle East Quartet Envoy Tony Blair met with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators separately to discuss the possibility of resuming talks. While this is a far cry from the plan laid out by the Quartet last month which called for negotiators from both parties to meet, one positive agreement came out of the meetings. Both Israeli and Palestinian leadership agreed to put forward proposals on the issues of borders and security within the next three months. This agreement represents a shift in policy for the current Israeli government which has yet to put forward its own proposal on borders and security.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Quartet envoy Tony Blair said that the call for proposals is an attempt on the part of the Quartet to determine how far apart the parties are and whether there is a basis for negotiations. Blair noted that while the Palestinians put forward a detailed proposal on borders during the Annapolis Conference in 2008, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration has yet to do so.
Following Blair’s meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials on Wednesday, the Quartet released a statement saying, “The parties agreed with the Quartet to come forward with comprehensive proposals on territory and security within three months in the context of our shared commitment to the objective of direct negotiations leading toward an agreement by the end of 2012.”
Click here to read this entire CMEP Bulletin, including the following items:
- Who are the negotiators?
- Settlement construction continues
- Palestinians and UNESCO
- What could have been….
- Christian leaders support Palestinian UN membership