{"id":1506,"date":"2011-02-28T21:15:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-28T21:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jcpa.wpengine.com\/?p=1506"},"modified":"2025-04-11T15:46:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T15:46:10","slug":"israeli-palestinian-peace-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jewishpublicaffairs.org\/press-release\/israeli-palestinian-peace-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President Obama has made resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a high priority in the first years of his administration, appointing former Sen. George Mitchell as a special Middle East envoy on his first day in the White House.\u00a0 Positive developments in the West Bank Palestinian political landscape \u2013 particularly the nation and institution building led by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad \u2014 have opened up new opportunities to make progress toward peace. Provided that Israel\u2019s fundamental security requirements will be met in any final peace agreement,\u00a0Prime Minister Netanyahu has expressed support for the establishment of an independent, demilitarized Palestinian state \u2013 a state with an internal security apparatus, but not an army that could potentially threaten Israel.\u00a0\u00a0 While not making it a precondition for negotiations, the Prime Minister has insisted that Palestinian leadership recognize Israel as the Jewish state, the nation state of the Jewish people.<\/strong>\u00a0 In order to build confidence, the Israeli government imposed an unprecedented ten month moratorium on settlement construction in November 2009. \u00a0<\/p>\n

With U.S. help, following months of \u201cproximity\u201d talks led by Mitchell, the parties finally returned to direct, face-to-face negotiations in early September at a summit in Washington, D.C.\u00a0 Present at the summit were President Obama, Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Abbas, King Abdullah II, and President Mubarak.\u00a0 Before convening the summit, President Obama stated that \u201cthese negotiations are intended to resolve all final status issues\u2026and result in the emergence of an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security with a Jewish state of Israel and its other neighbors\u201d However, when the settlement moratorium expired, the Palestinians halted bilateral negotiations..<\/p>\n

Through October and November, the administration sought to bring the parties back to the negotiating table, and, with the Palestinians refusing to negotiate while settlement activity continued, offered Israel tangible incentives for extending the moratorium for an additional period of time.\u00a0\u00a0 In December, the administration abandoned its efforts to achieve an extension of the moratorium, and explored new mechanisms for advancing the peace process. Throughout this period, the Palestinian authority leadership has engaged in activities antithetical to its internationally recognized obligations to negotiate an agreement with Israel by publicly expressing intentions to unilaterally declare statehood, escalating its efforts, particularly in Latin America, to gain international recognition for a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders and continuing to promote one-sided initiatives critical of Israel in international bodies, including the United Nations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The JCPA believes that:<\/strong><\/p>\n