How the direct Peace Talks between Netanyahu and Abbas that began in September 2010 came to a quick End
Israel Debates is released as online publication of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Israel. Each edition presents opinions of two authors who express controversial views about major events of Israeli interior or foreign politics. The present publication of Israel Debates presents the Israeli domestic discussion on how the direct Peace Talks between Netanyahu and Abbas that began in September 2010 came to a quick End.
In his analysis, Shaul Arieli, a former senior officer of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and one of the leading representatives of the Geneva Peace Initiative, holds that Benjamin Netanyahu and his government neglected to develop initiatives of their own to advance the peace process. Instead, he states, they pursued a policy of curbing and preventing Palestinian proposals.
In his contribution, Israel Harel, former Chairman of the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza and a leading voice of the settler movement in Israeli public discourse, presents an entirely different assessment. He argues that the Netanyahu government, as the governments preceding it, desires peace with the Palestinians and keeps taking according initiatives.
February 2011.