US,Israel Raise Hopes for Mideast Peace05/23 12:40

   The United States and Israel raised hopes Thursday for a restart of the 
Middle East peace process, despite little tangible progress so far from U.S. 
Secretary of State John Kerry's two-month-old effort to get Israelis and 
Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

   JERUSALEM (AP) -- The United States and Israel raised hopes Thursday for a 
restart of the Middle East peace process, despite little tangible progress so 
far from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's two-month-old effort to get 
Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

   As they met in Jerusalem, Kerry praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu for the "seriousness" with which he is looking at ways to revitalize 
peace hopes. Kerry expressed optimism without outlining any concrete strategy 
for ending a stalemate between the two sides that has seen them hardly 
negotiate one-on-one at all over the last 4 years.

   "I know this region well enough to know there is skepticism, in some 
quarters there is cynicism and there are reasons for it," Kerry told reporters. 
"There have been bitter years of disappointment. It is our hope that by being 
methodical, careful, patient --- but detailed and tenacious --- that we can lay 
on a path ahead that can conceivably surprise people and certainly exhaust the 
possibilities of peace."

   "That's what we're working towards," said Kerry, who met with Palestinian 
President Mahmoud Abbas later Thursday in Ramallah.

   Netanyahu said his conversation with the top American diplomat would touch 
on mutual concerns about Iran and Syria. "But above all," he said, "what we 
want to do is restart the peace talks with the Palestinians."

   "It's something I want, it's something you want," Netanyahu told Kerry. 
"It's something I hope the Palestinians want as well and we ought to be 
successful for a simple reason: When there's a will, we'll find a way."

   The visit, Kerry's fourth trip to the Jewish state since taking office as 
secretary of state in February, coincides with deepening pessimism from 
Palestinian officials about the new peace push. They are planning to resume 
their campaign of seeking membership in key international organizations as 
early as next month in a bid to put pressure on Israel into offering some 
concessions.

   Without major U.S. pressure on Israel, the outlook seems bleak. The most 
immediate divide concerns the issue of Israeli settlement building in the West 
Bank and east Jerusalem --- lands that Israel conquered in the 1967 Mideast war 
and which the Palestinians hope to include in their state.

   Kerry brought "nothing new" to his discussions with Abbas, lamented one 
Palestinian official familiar with the talks. The official, who spoke on 
condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the 
private meetings, said Palestinian expectations remain low because they see 
Kerry "trying to accommodate the Israelis, not pressure the Israelis."

   While Palestinians have praised Kerry's efforts, they say there has been 
little progress ahead of what they believe to be a June 7 deadline for action. 
They are already beginning work on a "day-after" strategy.

   And they say there is no point in negotiating while Israel continues to 
build Jewish settlements. More than 500,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank 
and east Jerusalem, making it increasingly difficult to partition the land 
between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel also captured the Gaza Strip in 
1967, though it withdrew from the territory in 2005.

   The Palestinians have demanded that Israel freeze settlement construction 
and accept the pre-1967 frontiers as the baselines of a future border. While 
previous Israeli leaders have used the 1967 lines as a starting point for 
talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin says negotiations should begin without 
any preconditions.

   When President Barack Obama took office in 2009, he took a tough line 
against the settlements and prodded Israel into a partial construction freeze. 
But Israel refused to extend the freeze, and a short-lived round of 
negotiations in 2010 quickly collapsed. Obama similarly tried unsuccessfully to 
press Israel into accepting the 1967 lines as a baseline for talks.

   Fed up with the impasse and disillusioned with Obama, the Palestinians last 
fall won recognition from the U.N. General Assembly as a nonmember state, an 
upgraded diplomatic status that gives them access to key U.N. bodies. The U.S. 
was one of just eight countries that sided with Israel in opposing the bid.

   Israel fears the Palestinians will now seek membership in international 
agencies to promote an anti-Israel agenda. Its biggest concern is that the 
Palestinians will try to join the International Criminal Court and try to press 
war crimes charges against Israel.

   Israel's chief peace negotiator, Tzipi Livni, said Thursday that Israel must 
push forward with peace efforts, in a message directed mainly to hardliners in 
her own country.

   "The Palestinian issue isn't something that will disappear and it is not an 
issue where someone can say, 'There are more worrying things, so let's not deal 
with it,'" she told Israel Radio.

   "I still think that the freeze of the past four years is bad," she said, 
speaking in Hebrew. "As time elapses, the ability to ignite the negotiations 
gets more problematic. The price that Israel pays both in the short and 
long-term are higher. And therefore the freeze does not serve those that want 
to reach an agreement."

   Livni said the Israeli-Palestinian standoff only serves those who believe in 
mantras like "here we are holding on to the land, here we built another house, 
here we prevented an agreement."

   "This isn't me and I don't believe it represents the mainstream or the basic 
position of the Israeli public," she said. "And I believe I represent the 
Israeli national and security interests in the long-term."

   Kerry's plan remains opaque, even to officials in the Obama administration.

   One element will clearly focus on improving the Palestinian economy by 
spurring private investment. He also recently persuaded the 22-member Arab 
League to renew a decade-old peace offer to Israel, with new incentives aimed 
at making it more attractive to Israel.

   But he has yet to wrest any clear overture from the Israelis.

   Meeting Israeli President Shimon Peres on Thursday evening, Kerry said the 
moment was critical "for the region, and particularly for Israel and for 
Palestine."

   "There is an opportunity, but for many reasons it's not on the tip of 
everybody's tongue," he said. "The people in Israel aren't waking up every day 
and wondering if tomorrow (there will) be peace because there is a sense of 
security, and a sense of accomplishment and a sense of prosperity.

   "But I think if you look over the horizon," he added, "one can see the 
challenges. And I think that the importance of trying to resolve this in this 
moment, where there is willingness for people to look for a way, can't be 
overstated."


(KA)