Will Israel Manage to Avoid International Pressure?

• 04.30.2016, 13:30
•  Near East,  World

www.haaretz.com

On April 25 the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel is ready for bilateral talks with the Palestinians "immediately without preconditions," the Jerusalem Post reports. It is to be noted that it is not the first time that Israeli Prime Minister makes such a statement. In February of this year in response to the French initiative the Foreign Ministry of the Israel issued a statement in which the prospect of direct diplomatic negotiations was supported. To understand what is behind such stance of Israel, we need first of all  to know details of the so called French initiative.

On January 29, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced the French initiative to convene an international peace conference, where details of a two-state solution will be outlined.  In the international conference, where 30 countries and international organizations will take part, neither Israel nor the Palestine will participate. As former French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault noted to Wall Street Journal,  France was inviting foreign ministers from Europe, the US, Middle East and Asia to Paris on May 30 to lay the groundwork for a new round of peace talks. According to him, the goal of the international conference is for major world powers to develop a common strategy for the negotiations without the presence of either Israeli or Palestinian officials. In case of success an international conference will be organized later this year that would include the Israeli and Palestinian leadership, at which talks would begin in earnest.

So why is Israel against this proposal? In his statement Netanyahu explained his stance noting:

"Israel adheres to the position that the best way to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is direct, bilateral negotiations. All other political initiatives distance the Palestinians from the negotiating table," Jerusalem Post reports.

However as the experts argue in reality Israel is afraid of the international pressure at this point of time when his main alley, the US, is in the active phase of the elections and Obama is now in a lame duck position. Thus at this point of time the main goal of Israel is prolonging time as long as possible to avoid international pressure. In this case the fears of Israel are grounded, because France has already threatened to recognize Palestine if new stage of negotiations again fail.