John Kerry’s iceberg

John Kerry’s mission in the region is very much like an iceberg. What appears on the surface to the media, is far less than what is hidden below the surface. It seems that the philosophy adopted by the man is inspired by Hadith; "Seek secrecy to finish your tasks.” Kerry wants direct peace negotiations to start from Amman with active Jordanian participation. According to some leaks the Jordanian diplomacy would even present facilities to make this task possible. In order to resume negotiations without preconditions, the American minister is putting pressure on the Palestinian authorities to write off the condition of stopping settlement activities. This shocking deterioration in the US position during the second term of President Obama, presents the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Jordan and all the Arab countries with a tough choice. This preliminary concession, if provided by these parties in these absurd negotiations, shows that we may know how it will start, but we don’t know how it will end. In return, it is OK to put little pressure on the Israeli side, such as facilitating the flow of Palestinian tax funds (bribe the Palestinians out of their own pockets) and maybe releasing a batch of detainees and prisoners. There are leaks suggesting that it may be OK to drop the requirement to recognise the Jewish State, although we do not know yet whether dropping this requirement is to pave the way for the continuation of negotiations, or for the completion of the final agreement, and there is a substantial difference between the two. The American pressures do not stop at this point. In return for a handful of retractable confidence building measures there is a concession. The 57 Arab and Muslim nations should accept the state of racism and occupation and build relations with Israel, besides modifying the Arab Peace Initiative to drop the item of the Palestinian Right of Return. The delegation of the Arab Monitoring Committee, who will visit Washington soon, will explore what Washington wants to revive in the Arab peace initiative, or rather, if any items of the initiative will be revived at all. We were all surprised with the sudden enthusiasm of the Arab leaders at the Doha summit, as they spoke in their final statement of the dead peace initiative and the need to revive it. This was before the Kerry tour and the Obama visit. We said at that time that the Arab peace initiative was intended to be revived with the participation of Arab spring leaders, amid the heavy veil of smoke of the Syrian crisis. Israel, which succeeded in convincing America to accept its settlements, intensified their lobbying on American lawmakers to justify their occupation of Palestine, and to drop the issues of Jerusalem and Right of Return from the agenda of negotiations with the Palestinians. It preempted Kerry's second round with the region and announced frankly that it doesn't intend to deliver Americas maps of the final solution nor timetables to evacuate the occupied territories. It's an Israeli success story, backed by a lot of talk about the peace process and "the option to negotiate" and "save the sanctities." It’s the Hebrew agenda, translated into English, with an American accent. It’s a summons order handed over by John Kerry to the Arab parties. Unfortunately there are many indications that these parties will submit to the order, and as always pave a one-way road to compliance and concessions. The efforts of the American minister did not stop there, as the stage required the strategic Turkish - US alliance. With Kerry saying Turkey can be a mediator in the peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis. It might not be long before we see the negotiation tables moved from Amman to Ankara. As for Hamas and the resistance node, it is no longer separate and refusing to negotiate.  Allies from Cairo to Ankara via Doha can push Hamas to the negotiating table, sometimes under the name of long truce and sometimes to pursue legitimacy of the Hamas cause. It appears that Kerry was surprised with the readiness of some Arab parties to do what Washington cannot do with the Palestinians. So he raised the ceiling of expectations, taking advantage of getting Syria out of the equation, and Iran's isolation and the blockade of Hezbollah. Kerry seeks to close this file, in the way Israel wants to close the file on the rights, the eternal undivided capital, and five million Palestine refugees. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.