Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Israeli-Palestinian Talks Face a Big 'So What?'

Un articolo privo della consueta retorica sul pericolo per l'esistenza 
di Israele e sul terrorismo che minaccia il mondo.  E' piuttosto raro 
trovarne sulla stampa nordamericana.
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Israeli-Palestinian Talks Face a Big 'So What?'
By Karl Vick / Ramallah Sunday, Aug. 22, 2010
Wide, long and not very satisfying was the yawn that greeted news that 
Israel and the Palestinian Authority will resume direct peace talks in 
Washington next month. After decades of fruitless negotiations 
interrupted by periods of stalemate or terror or both, expectations 
could scarcely be lower on either side.
"From 1947 till now, what did they get us?" asks Walid Salloun, 78, in 
the open doorway of his carpentry shop in downtown Ramallah, a 
Palestinian city whose sprawl would flow naturally into Jerusalem's but 
for the 20-foot-high concrete wall and Israeli watchtowers. "Many talks, 
but we do not see any result. Nothing happens." (See "In Israel, 
Commerce amid Conflict.")
On the other side of the barrier, Friday's announcement by U.S. 
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed to make the front page of 
Israel's largest papers. Under the headline "They Just Feel Like 
Talking," Nahum Barnea in Yedioth Ahronoth wrote, "We've seen that 
movie. We've seen it again and again and again. It is hard to believe 
that this time it is going to have a happy end."
Many are the reasons for such indifference. There is widespread 
skepticism about the professed sincerity of Israeli Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu, given his history of resistance to earlier peace 
deals. Some say Bibi has changed his spots, following the same logic as 
fellow Likudnik Michael Eitan, who last week published a letter 
asserting that narrowing alternatives account for "our willingness to 
make territorial compromises and the establishment of a demilitarized 
Palestinian state."
But no one sees any new spirit of compromise winning over a majority of 
the seven ministers who make up Netanyahu's "security cabinet," larded 
as it is with hard-liners from religious and nationalist parties who 
make his ruling coalition so very right wing. (See pictures in 
"Palestinian 'Day of Rage.'")
"There are four ministers among the seven who are going to be against 
making major concessions to the Palestinians that would enable an 
agreement," says Oded Eran, who headed the Israeli negotiating team at 
Camp David in 2000, and did not see the makings of a breakthrough in 
what's visible of the Obama Administration's peace plan. "I think 
there's so many question marks on all of this. They puzzle me."
Nor does it bode well that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas 
made it clear he was dragged to the talks kicking and screaming. The 
successor to Yasser Arafat has problematic support even among the half 
of the Palestinian population his Fatah party governs, on the West Bank 
of the Jordan River. The other half is locked down 20 miles due west in 
the Gaza Strip with Hamas, the fundamentalist militant group barred from 
U.S. talks for the logical enough reason that its charter calls for the 
destruction of the other party, Israel. (See "Out of Israel, an 
Embarrassing Facebook Post.")
Abbas, like most Palestinians, is wary of the Israelis using endless 
talks as a p.r. front, appeasing a watching world while continuing to 
have its way on the ground. Indeed Abbas insists he will ankle the 
proceedings if Israel resumes building settlements on the West Bank 
after Sept. 26, the formal end of the 10-month construction freeze 
President Obama last year strong-armed out of Netanyahu. "It's all 
bulls___," says a Ramallah businessman awakened from a midday Ramadan 
nap at his desk. "Our land keeps getting smaller and smaller. They steal 
our water. And what do we get?" (Comment on this story.)
He declines to give his name before heading back to sleep with a weary 
wave of his hand. "I've been in jail enough times."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2012429,00.html?xid=rss-topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Ftopstories+%28TIME%3A+Top+Stories%29

 Conflict.")
Chissa' se gli hanno mai detto che gli accordi di Oslo *DEL 1993* gli hanno
permesso di avere una *AMMINISTRAZIONE PALESTINESE*, di partecipare ad
*ELEZIONI PALESTINESI* e di pagare *TASSE PALESTINESI*.
Tutte cose che prima del 1993 non c'erano.
-Stefano