http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132689Arab States ‘Annoyed’ with Mitchell, want Fast ‘Final Solution'
by Gil Ronen
(IsraelNN.com) Following a Saudi snub of the United States’ requests for concessions to Israel in a news conference Friday, a report in the prestigious pan-Arab newspaper Ash-Sharq Il-Awsat reveals that the Gulf states and other Arab countries are “annoyed” with the U.S. initiative.
While special U.S. envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell made a statement in Cairo calling upon Arab countries to commence partial normalization of ties with Israel, “knowledgeable diplomatic sources” told the newspaper that “the Gulf States and the Arab countries have reservations about responding [positively] to Mitchell's request and that they feel ‘annoyed’ by the US insistence that they take certain steps that these countries consider ‘premature.’”
There is no reason to take [these steps] at this point in time," said the sources, who were described as “familiar with the substance” of Mitchell's talks with Arab representatives.
'A final solution'
A high-ranking Arab official visiting Paris told the newspaper that the Arabs will not openly reject the U.S. demands. Instead they will express "understanding" for it and respond positively but will link their normalization moves to “a host of conditions.”
The newspaper reported that the Arabs want assurances that the U.S will be able to influence Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu with regard to removal of Jewish communities in Yesha. Ash-Sharq Il-Awsat explained that the Arabs also want to know what the U.S. plan is for “a final solution, the mechanism that governs it, and the time frame to which Washington will cling to achieve the goals of its plan,” because the Arabs “’are not prepared to continue to negotiate for dozens of years.’”
The report uses the term "final solution" -- apparently unaware of its infamous use by the Nazis in reference to the genocide against the Jewish people.
Israel should tear down barrier?
The Arabs want their normalization steps to come after, not before, Israel freezes construction in Yesha, and will request Israel to take "additional steps," including the restoration of the situation in Judea and Samaria to what it was before the 2000 Terror War.
This could be taken to mean that the Arabs want Israel to tear down the Judea-Samaria security barrier, which is claimed to have had success against terrorists.
The high-level Arab official noted also that the Arab position will be governed by two additional principles: "voluntariness” and "individuality," meaning that while individual Arab countries are free to take steps towards Israel they are under absolutely no obligation to do so and the Arab League will not make a collective decision calling for such steps.
The Arabs will not demand a specific date for a settlement but want a reasonable time "horizon" such as the date of the U.S. midterm elections in 2010.
Israeli withdrawal first, Arab steps later
In the meeting with Mitchell, the sources disclosed, the Arabs reiterated their support for the “Arab peace plan,” under which Arab countries would establish full relations and normalization of ties with Israel, while Israel would withdraw to June 4 1967 lines, allow the PA to become a state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital and “attain a just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees to be agreed upon in accordance with the UN General Assembly Resolution No 194.”
In his response to the Arabs, Mitchell explained that he needs concessions in order “to help the US president" in his current confrontation with the “right-wing” Netanyahu government. The idea Mitchell communicated was that if the Arabs want to benefit from the current US.-sponsored diplomatic momentum, "they should not stand by with folded arms" but rather "start moving" so that Washington will not look as though it "is pressuring Israel only,” as pro-Israel voices have been complaining..
Mitchell told the Arab leaders that the Arab peace initiative "has remained an empty overture, seven years after it was launched. So it is time for the Arabs to activate this initiative and give it a practical substance."
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