Israeli-Palestinian peace talks all but stopped Monday after the Jewish state refused to extend a 10-month freeze on new West Bank settlement construction. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who had said he would leave the talks if building started anew, did not – yet. He said he’d consult with allies and wait a week to announce if he would keep talking. His decision is welcome. It provides a chance for all parties to address the critical issue of settlement building and to promote resumption of the talks jeopardized by the Israeli action.
The ban expired at midnight Sunday. Monday, work was underway at some sites in the West Bank. Jewish settlers there vowed that more projects will follow. That might be more wishful thinking than fact. Knowledgeable Israelis say new projects are unlikely because financing won’t be available. Wise bankers and developers won’t commit funds to projects that might be stopped by another moratorium.
The United States and other nations with interests in the Mideast must work to keep Abbas at the table. If he leaves, it will be doubly difficult to bring both parties together again. Both Israelis and Palestinians, though, seem to want to keep things on an even keel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to Palestinians to keep talking and to work toward an agreement, despite the end of the ban. That suggests a willingness to work toward a two-state solution to the Mideast impasse. Abbas, for his part, acknowledged the need for calm. “We will not have any quick actions,” he said. In a place where terrorist acts and military strikes often follow even minor events, such restraint surely signals progress.
Third parties should not allow the settlement flap to scuttle talks. Compromise is needed. The Obama administration, which has tied its prestige to a positive outcome of the Mideast talks, announced that special envoy George Mitchell would return to the region on Tuesday. His goal will be to help Israelis and Palestinians resolve the settlement issue, or to keep talks going if that can’t be done. The U.S. effort won’t be an isolated one. Other nations will assist, as well.
The problem is complex. Netanyahu can’t end settlement building arbitrarily without risking political punishment. The right-wing bloc of his governing coalition is unalterably opposed to such a plan and would turn on him if he pushed it through. Abbas is in a similar bind.
If he agrees to continue peace talks without securing an end to settlement building or some other major concession, Palestinian militants will claim he’s soft on Israel and topple his government. His replacement likely would be more radical and less likely to negotiate a peace.
It is evident that renewed settlement building and the continuation of peace talks are incompatible. The challenge at the moment is to resolve issues arising from the former without scuttling the latter. Even by the Mideast’s demanding standards, that will be a formidable task.