Palestine – Collective amnesia spells collective disaster

US Secretary of State John Kerry has missed his own deadline of January 31, by not releasing his eagerly anticipated framework agreement designed to help end the 130 years old Jewish-Arab conflict. It will now be released by February 21, according to US Envoy Martin Indyk. Whilst speculation is rife as to its contents - it appears certain that there will be one crucial omission – that any Palestinian State created must be democratic – which could doom any further negotiations. A democratic Palestinian state finds its genesis in the 2003 Bush Roadmap – the foundation which underpins the current negotiations. The Roadmap stated: “A two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will only be achieved … through Israel's readiness to do what is necessary for a democratic Palestinian state to be established, “A settlement, negotiated between the parties, will result in the emergence of an independent, democratic, and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors.” The full text of the Roadmap was presented to Palestinian and Israeli leaders by the Quartet mediators - the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia – indicating strong international support for a democratic Palestinian State as the end game to success. By November 27, 2007 – when negotiations under the Bush Road Map were non-existent – President Bush assembled the following star-studded list representing their designated countries and organizations to announce that negotiations were set to commence in December: Description Delegation Title of Head of Delegation Name Parties Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas Quartet United States President George W. Bush EU Commission Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner EU High Rep High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary General of the Council of the European Union Javier Solana EU President (Portugal) Minister of State and of Foreign Affairs Luis Amado Russia Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey V. Lavrov UNSYG Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Quartet Representative Middle East Envoy Tony Blair Arab League Follow-up Committee Algeria Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mourad Medelci Bahrain Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa Egypt Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Aboul Gheit Jordan Minister of Foreign Affairs Salaheddin Al-Bashir Lebanon Minister of Culture Tarek Mitri Morocco Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Taieb Fassi Fihri Qatar Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmed bin Abdulla Al-Mahmoud Saudi Arabia Minister of Foreign Affairs Saud Al-Faisal Sudan Ambassador John Ukec Syria Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Fayssal Mekdad Tunisia Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdelwahab Abdallah Yemen Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Expatriate Affairs Abu Bakr al-Qirbi Arab League SYG Secretary General Amre Moussa G-8, P-5 Canada Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Bernier China Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi France Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Bernard Kouchner Germany Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier Italy Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs Massimo D'Alema Japan Special Envoy for the Middle East Tatsuo Arima United Kingdom Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs David Miliband Others Austria Brazil Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister of State for External Relations Ursula Plassnik Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim Denmark Minister for Foreign Affairs Per Stig Moeller Greece Minister of Foreign Affairs Dora Bakoyannis India Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Shri Kapil Sibal Indonesia Minister of Foreign Affairs Noer Hassan Wirajuda Malaysia Minister of Foreign Affairs Syed Hamid bin Syed Jaafar Albar Mauritania Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Mohamed Saleck Ould Mohamed Lemine Mexico Under Secretary Lourdes Aranda Netherlands Minister for European Affairs Frans Timmermans Norway Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Store OIC Secretary General Ekemelddin Ihsanoglu Oman Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdulla Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan Poland Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski Senegal Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Cheikh Tidiane Gadio Slovenia Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitrij Rupel South Africa Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma Spain Minister of Foreign Affairs Miguel Angel Moratinos Sweden Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt Turkey Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chief EU Negotiator Ali Babacan United Arab Emirates Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla bin Zayed Al Nahayan Vatican (Holy See) Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Special Envoy Pietro Parolin Observers IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn World Bank President Robert Zoellick They all heard President Bush state the following: “We meet to lay the foundation for the establishment of a new nation -- a democratic Palestinian state that will live side by side with Israel in peace and security… … Today, Palestinians and Israelis each understand that helping the other to realize their aspirations is key to realizing their own aspirations -- and both require an independent, democratic, viable Palestinian state…' No democratic State – no solution. By May 19, 2011 Bush's successor - President Obama - had started to vacillate: “The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their full potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state.” If Obama and the Annapolis participants have conveniently forgotten that creating a “democratic Palestinian State” is fundamental to the conflict being ended – then they only have themselves to blame for the chaos and violence that will surely follow, should Israel refuse to negotiate within a Kerry framework agreement that omits any reference to a democratic Palestinian State. International treachery and duplicity would surely have triumphed over international diplomacy.

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Palestine – Collective amnesia spells collective disaster

If Obama and the Annapolis participants have forgotten that creating a “democratic Palestinian state” is fundamental to the conflict being ended – they only have themselves to blame for the chaos that will surely follow.

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