Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu is trying to convince the world that he is doing everything he can to go forward in the peace process; his first move was made today in public in which he invited President Mahmoud Abbas to meet him anywhere to discuss the possibility of improving the situation.

However, the peace project which Netanyahu wants seems to be completely different from the Palestinians expectations since the former wants an Economical Peace while the latter wants a Political peace which gives them a state of their own and a kind of independence.

Sylvan Shalom, who is in charge of Netanyahu’s plan for economical peace failed in making any kind of improvement in his first 100 days at work. The reason is that the Palestinians refuse to meet with any Israeli official because of their fear that Israel will try to use any economical agreement with them as a claim that it is doing something for peace in the area.

The Palestinian official Sa’ab Erekat stated in an interview with Palestine Radio that the Palestinian Authority will refuse any kind of agreement which could be made between Israel and the United States. According to him the issue of settlements must be solved by either completely stopping the building or simply not; there is nothing in between.

Although Netanyahu’s administration seems to be working differently recently to try to convince the international community that it is willing to go forward for peace, the situation is not as easy as it appears for them. Netanyahu is trying to use the same strategy he used in the first time he was elected to become a prime minister. However, the situation on the Palestinian side is completely different today since the current Palestinian Authority is completely cooperating with the United States and other Arab actors to fight any armed movements in the West Bank.

This is one reason which made Europe become convinced that the Palestinians are really doing everything to satisfy the demands of the International Community; most of the recent European reactions were stating that the settlements must be completely stopped and the Palestinians must get a state of their own. Beside this, tension is felt in the Israeli European relations since the latter did not agree on any kind of improvement in the relations between the two sides as long as Israel is not making an improvement in the negotiations with the Palestinians.

Although the United States would prefer a good relation with Israel rather than an unstable one especially in this period, President Obama’s administration is trying to create a kind of pressure on Netanyahu’s administration by using some of the Jewish leading actors in Washington. President Obama was smart enough to include in his administration American Jews who are cautious as much as he is to try to find a solution for the Middle East crises that will not only bring security for Israel but the United States too.

This could be a reason that is turning Netanyahu’s mission into a difficult one since his strategies in editing the conflict will not work as good as he wants without an American support. Therefore, Netanyahu’s next step could be an attempt to create a kind of pressure on President Obama in his own backyard to try to make him ease the pressure on Israel for a while.

Ziad Khalil Abu Zayyad

A Palestinian-Arab living in East Jerusalem, Ziad graduated from College Des Freres in Jerusalem in 2003. Ziad finished his major in International Relations and English Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ziad is a former President of the Watan student movement at the university. He is interested in Middle Eastern political issues and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Founder of the Middle East Post and MEL (Middle East Future Leadership Network), he represents Palestinian youth at several international conferences.

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