CMEP Bulletin: Trump’s Peace Process Faces Roadblocks
Kushner’s First Foray Into Mideast Peace Reveals Challenges Ahead [Al-Monitor]
Al-Monitor reports, “Palestinians accuse the US negotiating team that met with President Mahmoud Abbas June 22 of taking Israel’s side, by not discussing the two-state solution or Israeli settlement activities.”
Israel’s Arabian Fantasy [The Washington Post]
Washington Post journalist Philip Gordon reports, “The prospect of Israel normalizing its relations with Arab states is an enticing one that anyone who cares about Israel or the region should want to see realized. But the idea of achieving that goal without support from the Palestinians is a fantasy, and even modest steps toward normalization will require Israel to do much more than many Israelis seem to realize. Netanyahu and Trump may not want to admit it, but the road to normalization with the Arab states still passes through the Palestinian issue, and not the other way around.”
Revitalizing Palestinian Nationalism: Options Versus Realities [Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]
A report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace concluded, “Fifty years after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the Palestinian national movement seems to be at a crossroads. Repeated efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have faltered, and the traditional instruments of Palestinian nationalism—the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Fatah, and, since 1994, the Palestinian Authority (PA)—face crises of confidence. While the current path is likely to lead to continued occupation, settlement expansion, and further internal division, the strategic alternatives could unravel Palestinian institutional and diplomatic achievements, with no certainty of success. A coherent strategy is needed, along with a new generation of leaders that can stem the political ruptures and inject new life into Palestinian institutions.”
Reimagining Palestine [Project Syndicate]
Former deputy prime minister of Jordan Marwan Muasher reports, “By putting the core issue of Palestinian rights front and center, the Palestinian leadership would be acknowledging a shift that is already occurring within Palestinian society. Young people and civil-society groups are increasingly focused on how to secure individual rights, and regard their civil liberties as a precursor to, rather than the result of, statehood. In fact, two thirds of Palestinians believe that the two-state solution is no longer feasible. While past decades have centered on the establishment of a state as the pathway to collective freedom, this approach has yielded little more than years of lost hope and political stagnation.”
US Lawmakers Urge Secretary of State To Help Palestinian Activist Going On Trial In Israel [Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)]
JTA reports, “Thirty-two Democratic members of Congress have urged the secretary of state to help a Palestinian human rights activist who is going on trial in Israel. In a letter sent Wednesday, the lawmakers asked Rex Tillerson to utilize his influence in the case of Issa Amro, who is facing charges connected to protests he organized in Hebron, his West Bank hometown, against the Israeli occupation and expansion of settlements.”
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