It looks like the recent Israeli elections has left a mark on the Palestinian Authority, with senior officials saying that the peace process is now formally dead:
AL MONITOR – The mood in Ramallah is one of doom and gloom after the Israeli elections. In the words of a senior Palestinian Authority official, “If before the elections some of us thought the problem was [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, now we all know the problem is Israel itself.” In his opinion and those of other Ramallah-based senior officials who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “The peace process is now formally dead.”
Awesome. Israel speaks with one voice and the Palestinians have heard it clearly.
Of course, a dead peace process to the Islamist is just another excuse to wage war and kill as many Jews as they can, making as much noise as possible:
A high-level Palestinian security official who asked his name be withheld told Al-Monitor that the new situation — without any Israeli peace partner and without any US ability to enforce a process — leaves the Palestinians with little alternative. The only option at their disposal now is a nonviolent intifada, probably under the theme of liberating East Jerusalem, that according to him may turn violent depending on the Israel Defense Forces’ reaction. It may include Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as all these factions sense that they have little to lose. “This must become our war of independence,” the official said, “coupled with diplomatic activities to assure statehood along the 1967 lines.”
“This must become our war of independence.”
The Al-Monitor also spoke with a State Department official who laid out the Obama administration’s ‘options’ on the peace process given that they don’t believe they can trust Netanyahu any longer, and none of them are any good.
The United States, in the new situation after the Israeli elections, will maintain close coordination on the issue with the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Based on these premises, the US source detailed three policy options currently considered by the Obama administration.
The first option is to publicize a US policy document outlining the proposed framework agreement of Secretary of State John Kerry from April 2014. It refers to a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines, with mutual land swaps, security arrangements at the borders and along the Jordan River with temporary Israeli military presence, the Jerusalem area as a shared capital, no right of return, recognition of Israel as a Jewish nation-state and a reference to the Saudi peace proposal.
Alternatively, the United States would advance a similar text as a UN Security Council resolution in coordination with the European Union.
The third possibility would be to allow France to propose its Security Council resolution draft, and not to cast a veto.
None of this will ever create peace. Of course, we know the Islamists don’t really want peace and if another intifada breaks out like these Islamo-Nazis are suggesting, it could take an outside source like Turkey and Iran to stop the violence.