Palestine State: Will Fascist Israel give-up old Terror gimmicks? –IV
- By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
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FOUR

Can the Kremlin Shield Palestinians?

Like Kashmir, the establishment of Palestine state, now under foreign occupation, has been lingering for a long time manly because the occupying Zionist regime plays havoc in delaying while denying any real chance for peace. Many nations and organizations have, therefore, volunteered to mediate but failed. Arab peace plan among others is still on the table, while USA has intensified action to make its ally Israel see reason. Russia off and on expressed its desire to mediate, but pulled out, perhaps due to injections from Washington. Once again, now, the Kremlin has volunteered to partake in peace process to re-kick-start the peace talks.
Russia is looking at the Arab world as potential inward investors and by improving relations with Arab countries; it hopes to attract investors into the energy sector and elsewhere as it seeks to diversify. Russia has joined the other Quartet members in criticising Israel's plan to build 1,600 homes for Jews in a part of the occupied West Bank it annexed to Jerusalem, and has not played up chances for progress at the talks. "Frankly speaking, I don't think Russia hopes for anything," said the editor of he journal Russia in Global Affairs, Fyodor Lukyanov. "It's clear the general constellation of forces in the region is absolutely not conducive to achieving anything."
Russia, eager to raise its profile as a Middle East peacemaker, has long hoped to push the process forward by hosting a follow-up to the 2007 Annapolis peace conference in the United States, with all the major players on hand. However, a bitter dispute over Israeli settlements is clouding the chances for progress on March 19 Friday at a high-level Moscow meeting aimed at advancing Middle East peace. US (Mrs. Clinton) criticised as insulting the announcement of a new Israeli settlement project, which sparked Palestinian anger and dashed any hopes of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians soon. The one-day quartet meeting will bring U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to Moscow. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said the housing plan must be scrapped before proximity talks could start.

International efforts won't solve the problems when Israelis and Palestinians are moving farther apart, he said, dismissing the quartet as "a very expensive club for diplomats." The quartet itself said that it would "take full stock" of the situation at Friday's talks, but promised nothing more. Ban, before leaving for Moscow on Tuesday, said that the United Nations is "very concerned about the situation on the ground" in the Middle East. "I will work with our partners and the two sides to find a way to resume talks for a just resolution of this conflict," the U.N. chief said.
In view of the attempts being made by Israel to complicate the resolution process, for now for a ministerial-level meeting of the quartet of Middle East mediators -- Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union -- at a time when hopes of a breakthrough are minimal. But Russian and U.S. teams have been negotiating for months on a successor to the 1991 START I treaty, and Lavrov said on 16 March that they could have a deal ready for signing by early April. Both want to make maximum efforts to find a sustainable resolution of Mideast conflict that removed thousands of innocent Palestinians from the world by the Zionist fascists. .

With Middle East prospects dim, Lukyanov and other Russian analysts said the trip will give Clinton a chance to push for a new nuclear arms control treaty with Russia and for Moscow's support for sanctions on Iran. "For Clinton, the quartet meeting is just a strong pretext to come to Moscow and press the reset button again," said analyst Lilia Shevtsova of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, referring to the Obama administration's efforts to mend ties with Russia. With or without a breakthrough, the quartet meeting could advance Russia's bid to strengthen economic ties and emphasise its credentials as an honest broker to the Arab world, said Chris Weafer, chief strategist at investment bank Uralsib.
One of the reasons for US-Israel conflict is that it comes on top of background tension and real political differences between the two sides. Mrs Clinton made it clear she ultimately holds Netanyahu responsible. The Israeli media is now filled with speculation about how much the crisis will cost Netanyahu - what he will have to do to convince the Palestinians he is serious about the indirect peace talks the announcement may have torpedoed. It is widely seen as a political impossibility for any Israeli prime minister publicly to announce a suspension of building in East Jerusalem. He is likely to face US pressure to quietly slow down at least some of it - perhaps even putting the 1,600 homes in question on ice - to claw back a piece of moral high ground.