Shmuel Rosner-19/09/2007

Shmuel Rosner, (Haaretz)

"The word "bilateral" was mentioned nine times within 30 minutes during Monday's press briefing by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, David Welch. Nine times, eight of them were in reference to the talks between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas [Abu Mazen]. This is a pretty clear answer - at least an official answer - to all those who wondered who was responsible for furthering the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks: "an effective bilateral process," "a bilateral process that is productive," "we want a constructive and effective bilateral process," "are willing to envision bilateral negotiations," "galvanize this bilateral discussion."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives today for another round of talks, not the last one, before the summit, or "meeting" for furthering the peace process, scheduled for later this fall. Judging from her assistant's statements, she is meant to serve as a training wheel for a two-wheeled vehicle. Since the day President George Bush made his address on the Middle East early this summer, and to the point in which expectations were lowered, by summer's end, the formula has remained unchanged. The bottom line is that everything depends on the "bi," in other words Olmert and Abu Mazen. If they want, they will move forward. Bush and Rice promise to support them. It is a promise that is relatively easy to keep. More complicated is meeting their promise to recruit rejectionist countries such as Saudi Arabia to the supporters' camp.

Rice's immediate schedule is filled to bursting with meetings on the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. It's as if all the other problems of the world have been resolved. During the second part of her short visit to the Middle East, she is expected to attend a meeting of the Quartet with its representative, Tony Blair, during the gathering of the UN General Assembly in New York; one with Arab representatives; another with the donor nations to the Palestinian Authority and one with the Gulf states. In October she will return to Israel.

Maybe all this is a sign that Rice is serious in her intention to enlist the world in supporting the "bi": possibly a sign that the talk about the "bi" is no more than camouflage for an attempt at a more blatant intervention, an unnecessary push that she will give Abbas, and mostly Olmert, during their meeting. After all, Rice has put herself in an undesirable situation: if Olmert and Abbas succeed in their talks, they will get the credit for the work and she will be credited with assisting. If they fail - and by extension cause her summit to fail - the embarrassment will be registered only to her name."

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