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Outlook for Israeli-Palestinian Talks

[Times-UK] Bronwen Maddox - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has won the leadership of the Kadima party. Livni said what European governments wanted to hear: that she will keep talks with the Palestinians going. But the only fair expectation of the outcome is close to zero. That is partly for the familiar reason that Israel's extreme democracy does not often deliver governments with the power to push through decisions that a minority detests. Livni's struggles to form a government will soon illustrate that point. Equally, the split in the Palestinian leadership between Fatah and Hamas may make it pointless to talk only with the former. The U.S. and EU are unwilling to talk directly to the militant Islamic group and hoping that pouring aid on Fatah (while invoking irrelevant comparisons with Northern Ireland) will make Hamas go away. A brief look at the group's control of West Bank schools and services is enough to reckon that it won't. The deeper questions are whether enough Israelis still see the conflict with the Palestinians as so urgent a threat, and whether their leaders will spare attention from the Iranian nuclear drama. The idea of Iranian leaders, claiming divine direction, sending a nuclear missile to Tel Aviv is inescapably menacing.
2008-09-19 01:00:00
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