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israeli envoy tells jfna/jcpa: peace talks to move ahead

Sept. 3, 2010

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren today hailed "a very successful launching to direct talks" this week between Israel and the Palestinians in Washington and voiced optimism that the peace talks will move ahead shortly.

This week’s Mideast peace talks set a general “framework” for direct negotiations that could begin as early as Sept. 14 in the Red Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh in the Sinai Desert, in Egypt, Oren told hundreds of leaders of The Jewish Federations of North America and Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

The meetings involving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and peace envoy Tony Blair produced “a framework for peace that addresses parameters, without getting into the details,” Oren said.

Oren, who described the talks as both “very serious and very candid” and “warm and friendly,” spoke on an “Israel Perspectives” teleconference, part of the JFNA-JCPA Israel Advocacy Initiative that provides information on Israel to communities. Nearly 500 participants from throughout North America joined the call, which included an extended question-and-answer session.

Oren said a key to success for the talks will be willingness on the part of Israel and the Palestinians not to “cherry pick” core issues such as settlements, or the impending end to Israel’s moratorium on settlements, as pre-conditions to further talks. Rather, Israel prefers to address all issues at the negotiating table.

Israel, for example, maintains the settlements remain a “sub-topic to security” and broader territorial issues, he said. While this issue may be a “hurdle” to progress, Israel won’t demand pre-conditions such as that the Palestinian Authority dismantle the terrorist infrastructure before engaging in talks, he added.

Ultimately, once negotiations begin, “security is a paramount interest for us, it is almost the corest of core issues,” Oren said. That means Israel will not likely return to the 1967 borders, he said. “Israel doesn’t want the 1967 borders being a reference line, that's not a defensible border,” he said.

Meanwhile, the killing and wounding of Israelis in two terrorist attacks this past week on the eve of the peace talks “underscore the continued challenges posed by terrorists and opponents of the peace process,” he said.

“The Palestinians and Israelis have a common interest in fighting terrorists and remaining at the peace table,” he said.

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