Condoleeza Rice
The Associated Press

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat wave to the press before meeting.

Featured Topic | Posted 38 weeks 4 days ago

With Rice's urging, Israel and Palestine resume peace talks

With prodding from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, Israel and Palestine have agreed to resume the peace negotiations that began with a November conference in Maryland. The new talks come despite a recent five-day assault by Israelis on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, which had prompted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to call off negotiations.

Can Israel and Palestinians achieve some sort of peace? And can it happen without Hamas at the table?

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Ben likes: Sound and fury signifying incompetence

Caroline Glick/Jerusalem Post

Rice and the Olmert-Livni-Barak government argue that a renewed military presence in Gaza is a poor option because it would render negotiations towards the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza, Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem non-viable. But then, if those negotiations were successful, they would lead to the imposition of a Fatah-Hamas terror state which would not only not protect southern Israel from missile and rocket attack, it would expose central Israel to similar aggression.

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Joel likes: Rice to Abbas: Commit political suicide

Blake Hounshell/Foreign Policy

Rice announced that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would resume peace negotiations with Israel, despite Abbas's earlier position that he would only do so after a ceasefire in Gaza was in place.

Yes, Abbas needs the peace process in general. But politically, he can't very well sit down with Ehud Olmert while Israeli bombs are killing Palestinian civilians. He needs to wait a decent interval until the fury dies down. By agreeing to pretend to negotiate instead of pretending not to negotiate, all he did was reinforce his image as an American-Israeli puppet -- and he will get no closer to a peace treaty by being dragged to the table against his will. And having Rice announce the reversal? That was the icing on the cake.

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