A Palestinian protestor, wearing a plastic bag on his head, throws a tear gas canister back towards Israeli soldiers during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin, near Ramallah, Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)
By STEVEN GUTKIN and AMY TEIBEL (AP) – 59 minutes ago
JERUSALEM — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's long-shot attempt to resuscitate a moribund Mideast peace push is coming up against a firm Palestinian decision not to sit down with Israel, unless it freezes settlement construction on lands the Palestinians seek for a future state.
Israel has given no indication it's willing to call such a moratorium, resisting Washington's demands for months. Israeli officials are also privately expressing doubt about the wisdom of holding peace talks before Palestinian elections scheduled in three months' time.
Nearly a year after President Barack Obama took office, the Mideast peace initiative that is a cornerstone of his foreign policy is clearly in grave danger.
Palestinian officials say their president, the moderate Mahmoud Abbas, can't give ground on settlements because his people are already disillusioned with his leadership and feel he repeatedly caves in to U.S. demands.
A demoralized Abbas told Clinton in a telephone call last weekend that he would not seek re-election, prompting an urgent phone call from Obama to persuade him to reconsider and assure him the U.S. is committed to establishing a Palestinian state, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the phone calls were private.
One way Clinton could break the impasse would be to wrest concessions from Israel, allowing Abbas to regain credibility.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has rebuffed months of U.S. pressure to stop all building of new homes for Israeli settlers in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Netanyahu — who opposes some of the key territorial compromises that would be needed to attain a final accord — has also rejected a Palestinian demand that peace talks resume where they broke off under his predecessor.
Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, had no comment when asked what gestures Israel might be willing to make to help Abbas. He reiterated Israel's position that it is ready to relaunch talks without preconditions.
Speaking Friday, Netanyahu said he hoped to use talks with Clinton "to try to relaunch the peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians as soon as possible."
But Obama's inability to get Israel to budge on settlements has generated a feeling among Arabs that he is unwilling to put teeth into his demand.
Palestinian leaders are extremely frustrated with Obama and have decided to stick to their position on peace talks even if they end up getting blamed for holding up negotiations, said a senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was commenting on internal deliberations.
Clinton arrives Saturday on her first visit since Netanyahu took office in March and her second since becoming Obama's top diplomat. She will meet with Abbas in Abu Dhabi before heading to Jerusalem.
Obama personally tried to jump-start talks last month by bringing Abbas and Netanyahu together in the U.S. for their first meeting since the Israeli leader took office. But that high-profile sitdown with Obama produced no breakthroughs.
Getting Abbas to sit down with Netanyahu could be a hollow victory if it's done by pressuring Abbas to acquiesce to U.S. demands, or to an Israeli agenda that Palestinians see as hostile.
In five turbulent years in office, Abbas has never faced as much outrage as recently, when he suspended efforts to put Israeli officials on trial for alleged war crimes during last winter's Gaza war. Aides said he acted at Washington's behest.
The grassroots backlash was so harsh that Abbas quickly backtracked. Still, he was weakened badly, making it even more difficult for him to even consider backing down on the settlement freeze demand.
Complicating matters further is the Palestinian leader's bitter rivalry with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which wrested control of Gaza from Abbas loyalists in 2007. Hamas has long preached that Abbas' moderation doesn't pay and that only armed struggle will produce a Palestinian state.
Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not expressing formal policy, said starting talks with Abbas now could be pointless because Hamas could oust moderates in the elections, scheduled for Jan. 24.
At the moment, it's not clear if Abbas will be able to hold elections at all, absent a Hamas reconciliation deal that would allow voting in both Gaza and the West Bank.
Abbas' weakness contrasts sharply with the strong domestic support Netanyahu enjoys, even as Israel's image worldwide takes a beating.
A U.N. report has alleged the Israeli military committed war crimes during its Gaza offensive. Ties with the U.S. are turbulent. Relations with Turkey, Israel's most important Muslim world ally, have begun to sour. Anti-Israel sentiment and boycott calls are gaining steam around the world.
Yet a recent poll showed that if elections were held now, Netanyahu's Likud Party would win 33 seats — six more than now. Two-thirds of Israelis are pleased with his handling of foreign affairs, the poll found.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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