International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, August 27, 2010

The Jerusalem Post reported on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will propose bi-weekly meetings between him and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, with smaller teams hammering out the details of major agreements in between, at next week’s opening meeting.

"Serious negotiations in the Middle East [require] direct, discreet and continuous talks between the leaders on the key issues. That is why I am suggesting that the talks be conducted in this fashion," Netanyahu declared on Thursday.

Israel’s negotiating team will include several high level officials as well as experts in specific topics that require greater expertise.

Meanwhile, Voice of America radio reported on Thursday that most Israelis and Palestinians hold out little hope that upcoming direct talks between their respective leaders will be fruitful, and might even lead to a new outbreak of violence because that’s what happened in 2000 when outside forces tried to force negotiations on the two sides when they weren’t ready.

"Of course there will be people who say that if we shall not succeed with the political game, with the diplomatic process, let us try again the violence," said Yaacov Bar-Simantov of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.

"Washington comes to invite? No, they did not invite. They summoned," said Palestinian political analyst Mahdi Abdul Hadi

In related news, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently received a paper from his office documenting PA incitement against Israel at various forums around the world, including the UN Human Rights Council and the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It is expected that Israel will use the paper as leverage against any Palestinian claims during the negotiations that Israeli settlements are harming chances for a settlement.

Meanwhile, the Islamic terror militia Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip led a group of 11 armed Palestinian factions on Thursday in demanding that Abbas resign the leadership of the PA due to his "failure to resist heavy American and Israeli pressure" to abandon his preconditions for the talks.

"We are going to Washington to launch direct talks under the sponsorship of the US and the presence of a representative of the Quartet of our own volition and national sense because we want peace," Abbas insisted on Wednesday in Ramallah. "If there’s a 1 percent chance to achieve peace, we will go for it out of conviction, because we want to achieve peace with our neighbors. Therefore we are going to Washington full of hope that we could reach a just and comprehensive peace. Since the Oslo Accords, we agreed that neither party would take measures that would prejudice the outcome of the final-status negotiations. This means that Israel would refrain from changing the reality on the ground, while the Palestinians would refrain from unilaterally declaring a Palestinian state."

Elsewhere, senior Israeli officials, including Knesset Speaker Rueven Rivlin and Vice Premier Moshe Ya’alon will spend September 1 visiting schoolchildren in the West Bank on the first day of the new school year, as a way of showing solidarity with the settlements and demonstrating to the Obama Administration the necessity of continuing construction there.

Copyright © 2010 International Christian Embassy Jerusalem