This Friday, some twenty diplomats—including representatives of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab League, but not of Israel—will arrive in Paris for a one-day conference on how to revive efforts to create a Palestinian state. The initiative, writes Jeff Robbins, is bound to fail—just like those that preceded it:
The French have said that their purpose is “saving the two-state solution” and “bringing the parties back to the negotiating table.” This is a head-scratcher, since the Palestinians have repeatedly rejected the two-state solution and have refused to negotiate with Israel for many years now, turning down its request for negotiations as recently as last week. It is hard to believe that anyone is fooled at this point by the Palestinians’ song-and-dance, since all they have done [for decades] is to say “no” to the very independent state they say they want—the independent state that would end the occupation that they declare with a straight face is the cause of the conflict. . . .
[Yet in] Paris this week the charade proceeds as before. The Palestinians’ rejection of the very two-state solution they profess to seek will continue. Their rejectionism will be excused [and] the rejectionists coddled. Israel will be lambasted, as always. The end of conflict that ought to be attainable if it were actually desired will remain unattained.
Read more on Boston Herald: http://www.bostonherald.com/opinion/op_ed/2016/05/jeff_robbins_paris_peace_talks_the_usual_charade