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Veteran U.S. Negotiators Say Settlement Pressure Misguided
[JTA] Eric Fingerhut - Two veterans of Middle East peace negotiations say they are puzzled as to why the U.S. has made settlements such a big issue with Israel in the last few weeks. Both Aaron David Miller, who was at the Camp David negotiations during the Clinton administration, and Elliott Abrams, who was deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration, agreed that administration pressure on Israel over settlements isn't the correct move right now. Speaking in Washington last week, Miller called settlements a "distraction," given all the problems that need to be addressed in order to reach a peace deal. "Given the stakes and reality, we are going to need a relationship with Israel of great intimacy in order to do this. We need to think very carefully about how we're going about it," he said. Furthermore, Miller sees virtually no prospect of an agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians on the four core issues of Jerusalem, borders, security and refugees. Abrams also said that the settlement issue was not being handled "in a way that is likely to produce the most from Israel," particularly the fact that it was happening "on page one" instead of behind close doors. Abrams added that he didn't understand "how we got to where we are today," considering that media reports have revealed that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had offered Mahmoud Abbas 96% of the West Bank along with land swaps that added up to virtually 100% and "the answer he got back is nothing." "I would have thought this puts the onus on the Palestinians to do something, I would have thought that offer by Olmert shows the settlement expansion issue is phony," Abrams said. "I don't understand" the apparent decision "to take the position that Israel is the problem."