Thursday October 22, 2009

I've Been Thinking:

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat is in Washington.
Erekat arrived on Tuesday and has been making the rounds in talks. He has met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, National Security Adviser James Jones and Presidential Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell.

Erekat made Palestinian expectations vis a vis the Israelis crystal clear in an interview he gave the official Palestinian newspaper al-Ayam.
Erekat listed three items:
# 1: No more settlement activity of any kind
# 2: No interim agreements or short term resolutions - final status talks only
# 3: These talks must conclude with the establishment of a Palestinian State

Erekat did not use the catch phrase "preconditions for negotiations."
Instead he used the euphemism "explicit Israeli commitments that they must meet."
Given the White House's recent dropping of the term "precondition" regarding the freezing of settlements, it is difficult to gauge US reaction to these "demands."

In Middle East diplomacy there is often a public strong stance and a much more reasonable behind-closed-doors private stance.
In the end, it becomes a diplomatic balancing act.
We will see what happens here.

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