Hey Obama! Israel is not Ireland

[Septeloid Profile]

The prospect of next week's direct talks between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offers no obvious grounds for enthusiasm, or even hope.

Abbas has agreed to the talks with a reluctance that seems to border on dread, while Netanyahu, his public firmly behind him, feels little pressure to make real concessions. Middle East experts have set expectations at subbasement levels.

But George Mitchell, U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, believes he knows something the handicappers don't: With enough patience and persistence, you can bring the most bitter enemies to see their common interest. That was the lesson he learned from his role in the Northern Ireland peace process in the 1990s. "We had about 700 days of failure and one day of success," as he put it recently. As then, so now: "Past efforts at peace that did not succeed cannot deter us from trying again."

Having conducted successful negotiations under very trying conditions not only in Northern Ireland but between baseball's owners and players, Mitchell has earned a right to his quiet and undemonstrative optimism. Hopefulness is itself an important ingredient for negotiations: You often have to believe in the possibility of a successful outcome more than the adversaries do just to get them talking to one another. In short, we should not want Mitchell to feel any less positive about the Middle East than he apparently does. But that's different from the question of whether his hopefulness is justified. Does the Northern Ireland peace process offer a meaningful precedent for next week's talks? What are the lessons of Mitchell's first foray into global diplomacy, which were crowned with success in 1998?

See the Breifing on the Middle East Process here: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/08/146156.htm

The Israel/Palestine status is a long way from the status that Northern Ireland was at in the 1990s. The people of Northern Ireland had had enough of the violence and bigotry that left almost no family untouched. The people of Israel have showed time and time again, their staunch support of the radical and hardline stance that the Israeli government continues to uphold against Palestine whilst Abbas is under minimal pressure from Palestinians to find a 'middle ground' solution.

There is only one thing that can be learned from the Northern Ireland problem, and that is, that there is always a solution.

I fear however that egos rather than common sense will rule the day. Whatever happens, I wish Mitchell well as he is, and always will be, a friend of Ireland.

[Mediasorcerer Profile]

there will be peace when they are war fatigued,or most are dead,some just dont want to grow up,to all our detriment.

[Septeloid Profile]

there will be peace when they are war fatigued,or most are dead,some just dont want to grow up,to all our detriment.

Yes I agree. That's exactly what happened in Northern Ireland.

However, I fear that it will not be the 'war fatigue' that brings this conflict to an end....