From Arlene Kushner
January 4, 2012"And Still Pretend"
Yesterday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh hosted a meeting in Amman with Israeli negotiator Yitzhak Molcho, PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat and various members of the Quartet: envoy Tony Blair and a representative of each of the members, the US, the UN, the EU and Russia. There was then a second meeting without the Quartet representatives.
There was no statement issued by the two sides after the 3-hour meeting, which was described as having a "positive" atmosphere. Judeh conceded that there had been no breakthrough, but said that the very fact that the two sides had met was significant.
The two sides did agree to meet again. At this meeting the Palestinian Arabs presented Israel with their proposal on border and security issues -- which had been earlier submitted to the Quartet, and the Israelis said they would submit their proposal at a subsequent meeting. Perhaps there is the thought that it remains to be seen first how many "subsequent" meetings there truly are.
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Judeh was cited in the JPost today by Khaled Abu Toameh and Herb Klein as saying that an agreement on borders would solve the entire settlement issue. Talk about "pie-in-the-sky" thinking!
