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Netanyahu frets over how to tackle French peace plan

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If the conference leads to talks later in the year, that will be when Barack Obama is preparing to bow out as president. Mr Netanyahu is afraid of surprises. Israeli officials have been in near-panic that Mr Obama may seek payback for the years of humiliation he endured from Mr Netanyahu.

One way might be for Washington to agree to French oversight of the talks, following a tight timetable and establishing diplomatic "teams" to solve final-status issues.

Even if negotiations fail, as seems inevitable, parameters for future talks might be established.

Mr Netanyahu also knows that the wider atmosphere is likely to leave him singled out as the intransigent party.

A report by the Quartet, due soon, is expected to criticize Israel for its past failure to take steps towards peace. And a report last week by a joint team of US and Israeli defense experts suggested Israel's "security concerns" about Palestinian statehood are not as intractable as claimed.

Mr Netanyahu wants instead to deflect attention to a "regional peace summit." The key has been Egypt's support for a revival of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, based on the Arab Peace Plan of 2002. It promised Israel normal relations with the Arab world in return for ending the occupation.

Israel's sudden interest in the plan is odd, given that it has not been discussed in cabinet since the Saudis unveiled it 14 years ago.

In truth, Mr Netanyahu backs the idea because he knows reaching a region-wide agreement would be impossible with the Middle East in turmoil.

Israeli officials have already insisted that parts of the 2002 plan need "updating." Israel, for example, wants sovereignty over the Golan, Syrian territory it seized in 1967, and which currently promises newfound oil riches.

At the summit, the Saudi foreign minister said Israeli efforts to "water down" the plan would be opposed. Egyptian officials have hurried to distance themselves from the Netanyahu proposal and throw their weight behind the Paris process.

Still, Israel will try to ride out the French initiative until Mr Obama's successor is installed next year. Then, Mr Netanyahu hopes, he can forget about the threat of two states once and for all.

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Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. He is the 2011 winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books are "Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East" (Pluto Press) and "Disappearing Palestine: (more...)
 

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