Israel takes “rejectionist approach to peace, End of Mission report also claims
CAIRO: A secret UN report penned by the highest UN official directly involved in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict places the onus of failure of the Middle East Quartet on the United States.
The “End of Mission Report, obtained by the British newspaper The Guardian was written by Alvaro de Soto, who until May was the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.
In the report, dated May 5, de Soto damns American influence on the Quartet (US, EU, UN and Russia) saying that American pressure has “pummelled into submission the UN’s role as impartial arbitrator in the negotiations.
The former envoy’s main criticism was the enforcement of a boycott on the Palestinian government after the Islamist group Hamas swept into power on the back of elections in 2006.
The envoy describes the boycott as “at best extremely short-sighted and had “devastating consequences on the Palestinian people. Negotiations by the West have become irrelevant according to de Soto. Additionally, the Quartet is merely a “side-show.
“It isn’t a very apt mechanism for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, wrote de Soto, “and other members don’t necessarily use it for that purpose. He described the Quartet “as much about managing transatlantic relations as anything else, it is only partly about the Middle East.
He adds that the boycott “effectively transformed the Quartet from a negotiation-promoting foursome guided by a common document [the road map] into a body that was all-but imposing sanctions on a freely elected government of a people under occupation, as well as setting unattainable preconditions for dialogue.
He claims in the report that, “At best, I have been the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process in name only.
The Guardian published the document as fighting between Fatah and Hamas intensified, with 26 people killed in the Gaza Strip as the Palestinians teeter on the brink of outright civil war.
The report also criticized both sides involved in the conflict. He states that Israel adopts an “essentially rejectionist approach to peace and has set unachievable pre-conditions for negotiations.
The envoy stated that by allowing Israel not to conduct peace-making measures in tandem with Palestinian actions, “Israel’s commitment to the road map was never complete and the international community allowed Israel to exploit loopholes in the road map to achieve its ends.
The envoy also lambasted Israel’s creation of “facts on the ground, which impinges on the viability – indeed, let’s not beat around the bush, the very achievability – of a future Palestinian state.
Thus, Israel displayed total non-compliance towards its Road Map obligation according to de Soto, and was weakly rebuked by the Quartet, which did not even mention Israel by name.
