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Quartet Parameters Must Address Israel's Needs

(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - If the Quartet feels obligated to propose outlines of a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement at its upcoming meeting in mid-April, it needs to take into account Israeli demands, not only Palestinian ones, Israeli government sources said this week. While the Palestinians insist that the baseline for talks should be a return to the 1967 lines, Israel's position is that those lines are not sacrosanct, and that what needs to be discussed were secure and defensible borders - something Israel says is not provided by the 1967 lines. Israeli officials say that if the Palestinians see they can get benefits from the international community as a result of refusing to engage with Israel, they will continue to refuse to negotiate. This creates the "illusion" that the international community can deliver a peace agreement while avoiding Israel, something one official characterized as a "mirage." The Palestinians will only return to the table, the official said, if the international community makes clear that the Palestinians will get nothing without returning to talks.
2011-03-29 00:00:00
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