The US envoy to the Arab region, Senator George Mitchell, begins a new tour during which he meets with Arab and Israeli officials under the theme of "advancing the peace process and looking for ways to overcome the obstacles that stand in its way."
US-Israeli Tension
This tour is different from the previous ones as it comes amid US-Israeli tension because of Benjamin Netanyahu's defiance of the US Administration's calls to freeze the settlement activity and dismantle the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Netanyahu refused to present any commitment to freezing the settlement Activity during his recent visit to the White House. His aides bragged about this stand and considered it a sign of strength and firmness. This stand prompted his foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, to "reprimand" Senator Mitchell and lecture him on how what he termed Israeli concessions through a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip led to an increase in the rocket attacks on Israeli towns and settlements in the south.
Nothing has changed since Mitchell's last tour about one and a half months ago. The Israeli settlements are expanding on the pretext of natural growth and Lieberman continues to hold his post as Foreign Minister, while Netanyahu gave the Israelis a free hand to settle unconditionally in occupied East Jerusalem. Furthermore, his government issued decisions to confiscate Palestinian lands in occupied Jerusalem and build 50 housing units in the Shaykh Jarrah Neighborhood of Jerusalem.
We do not know how Senator Mitchell and his administration will deal with this Israeli challenge. Until now, this administration has been contented with expressing its "resentment" of and "opposition" to the settlement activity without taking any practical punitive steps.
Paying Price for Verbal Opposition
What we fear most is that this administration might ask the Arabs to immediately pay a price for its verbal opposition to the settlement activity by taking normalization steps with Israel, such as opening their airspace to Israeli flights, activating the trade exchange, and opening trade offices in occupied Jerusalem.
The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the Arabs' presentation of a peace initiative alone is not enough. She added that normalization steps must be taken to explain this initiative and reassure the Israeli public opinion and Government by showing how serious the Arabs are toward peace.
The first and most prominent response to Ms Clinton's call came from the heir apparent of Bahrain, Shaykh Salman Bin-Hamad Al Khalifah. He wrote an article in the US Newspaper the Washington Post in which he called on the Arabs to move toward the Israelis through the Israeli media to facilitate the peace efforts between the Arabs and Israelis. He said: "We, the Arabs, have not done enough to directly communicate with the Israeli people."
The US State Department immediately welcomed the Bahraini heir apparent's article and asked Senator Mitchell to go to Manama to congratulate him on his stand and to convey the US Administration's thanks to him and to his government.
US Stand Towards Arab-Israeli Conflict
There is no argument over the fact that the current US Administration's stand towards the Arab-Israeli conflict is totally different from that of the former administration that was led by George Bush and the group of the neo conservatives.
However, as Arabs and particularly as Palestinians, we must not pay the price for this difference in advance by reversing the Arab peace initiative in order for us to begin full normalization before a complete withdrawal.
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