By David Singer ——Bio and Archives--February 15, 2017
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"Trump believes in a deal and in running peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians," the prime minister was quoted as saying. "We should be careful and not do things that will cause everything to break down. We mustn't get into a confrontation with him."The last six years have seen those negotiations teeter on the brink of total collapse because the framework for such negotiations - the Bush-Quartet Roadmap and the Bush-Congress commitments--has been successively trashed by President Obama, the European Union and the United Nations. President Obama's failure to honour the Bush-Congress commitments first emerged on 19 May 2011 - when he stated:
"We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states."
"I know Israel has taken risks for peace. Brave leaders--Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Rabin--reached treaties with two of your neighbors. You made credible proposals to the Palestinians at Annapolis. You withdrew from Gaza and Lebanon, and then faced terror and rockets."However those "credible proposals at Annapolis" had never suggested that the "1967 lines" and "land swaps" be the starting point for negotiations. Yet Obama, the European Union and the United Nations persisted with these demands until the dying days of Obama's Presidency--when America abstained--rather than veto - Security Council Resolution 2334 which expressed:
"grave concern that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperilling the viability of the two-State solution based on the 1967 lines,"The Bush-Quartet Roadmap and the Bush-Congress Commitments is the only mutually agreed two-state negotiating process. President Trump and the Congress can ensure the survival of that process--though not necessarily a successful outcome of any negotiations to be conducted under that process - by reaffirming the Bush-Congress Commitments. Trump and the Congress in so doing would be meeting Netanyahu's expectations. America's restored reputation for keeping agreements made with its closest allies would resonate with Trump's campaign promise to "Make America Great Again".
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David Singer is an Australian Lawyer, a Foundation Member of the International Analyst Network and Convenor of Jordan is Palestine International—an organization calling for sovereignty of the West Bank and Gaza to be allocated between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine. Previous articles written by him can be found at: jordanispalestine.blogspot.com