When will Israeli-Palestinian direct talks begin?
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In June of 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama challenged the Israelis and Palestinians to enter meaningful peace talks. A little over a week later, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was ready to discuss the creation of a Palestinian state, albeit conditionally.
Since then, the Israelis and Palestinians have been bickering over the terms for entering direct negotiations.
The issue of direct talks came to the fore again this week with Netanyahu's three-day visit to America. When he met Obama at the White House on Tuesday, he called on the Palestinians to enter a face-to-face dialogue as soon as possible.
"In order to proceed to the solutions, we need to begin negotiations in order to end them. We've begun proximity talks. I think it's high time to begin direct talks," Netanyahu told the media while sitting alongside his host.
That call was welcomed by Obama who indicated that he thinks perhaps the Palestinians could be encouraged into a direct parley via "a range of confidence-building measures."
Since that meeting, members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' staff have told the media that their man will only enter direct talks once it is clear where Israel stands on such key issues as borders and security.
When and what?
While the Palestinians appear to be foot-dragging on direct talks, the Israelis believe there may be a limited window for opening them and that opportunity could well close in September or shortly thereafter.
Israel's 10-month settlement freeze comes to an end on September 26. However, Netanyahu has said publicly that building work will resume come September. Analysts believe he made that comment to satisfy his hawkish coalition partners, fearing his government would collapse if he committed to a longer-term freeze.
It is with that deadline in mind that Obama told journalists on Tuesday that he wants to see real negotiations begin sooner than later.
"My hope is, is that once direct talks have begun, well before the moratorium has expired, that will create a climate in which everybody feels a greater investment and success," the president said.
The 'when' question is currently so key, it even rose its head when CNN's Larry King interviewed Netanyahu on Wednesday.
"That's an excellent question, and I say let's start it right now, today, tomorrow, in Jerusalem, in Ramallah or anywhere else," the prime minister answered.
King then asked him what is holding up the start of direct talks, to which Netanyahu replied that he does not know. He said he created the moratorium to give the Palestinians the opportunity they needed to launch a direct line of communication and that the key issues, including borders and security, should be discussed in the same room and not via an envoy who has to travel half way around the world to deliver messages between two men sitting 10 minutes away from one another.
Of course the Palestinians do not accept the argument which is anywhere near so simplistic. They argue that Israel is constantly moving the goalposts and the facts on the ground. There is still anger on the Palestinian side that Israel did not apply the freeze to East Jerusalem, that house demolitions are continuing and that building work is ongoing in settlements where planning permission had been approved prior to the commencement of the moratorium.
