BBC News – Arabic: Palestinians have now rejected the idea of a partial Israeli settlement freeze, will this come as a surprise to Washington?
Grant F. Smith, IRmep: Well, Washington should have expected just such a refusal. If we look at what envoy Mitchell has said, he’s declared that this is the biggest step that any government in Israel has taken in the past, this temporary, very partial, settlement freeze. But of course, that’s not correct. Back in 2005, Israel actually withdrew from settlements,stopped building settlements, in Gaza. And so the Palestinian position of insisting on a complete settlement freeze is much more in line with expectations from the past.
BBC News – Arabic: How will this question of Israeli settlements and the effort to restart peace talks likely unfold in the United States? Does it look like a Palestinian refusal?
Grant F. Smith, IRmep: Well, as you know, the Israelis have a tremendous advantage. Back in 2005, the World Zionist Organization was found by an Israeli prosecutor [and reported} in the UN to be engaged in illegal settlement development. Yet this same organization is in the same office as the chief Israel lobby in New York. So they have a tremendous capacity for making small gestures, and then when those gestures are refused, raising a lot of press and political opposition [in the US] saying that the Palestinians are being unreasonable. So that’s to be expected.
BBC News – Arabic: Does Mitchell’s acceptance of a partial, temporary freeze lessen the Obama administration’s demand for a full unilateral settlement freeze?
Grant F. Smith, IRmep: I don’t think so. I mean Obama was very clear in asking–in the American interest–for a unilateral and complete settlement freeze. Netanyahu refused that for many months. I think that the US [and] President Obama are being remarkably sincere and clear in how damaging this Israeli settlement activity is. But Israel can count on the power of its vast lobby in the United States to restrain any real pressure, such as shutting down aid, loans, charitable contribution flows, etc. So Obama is fairly limited in what he can do.
BBC News – Arabic: Are the Palestinians damaging their cause? Are they being intransigent?
Grant F. Smith, IRmep: I think they are doing a remarkable job in getting their story out. In showing the effect of the economic blockade, which is devastating the Palestinian economy, of getting more journalists and alternative media in to see what’s actually happening. By just simply breaking the deadlock on information flow, the Palestinians have done a remarkable job in just the past couple of years