US Secretary of State John Kerry’s announcement on Friday that direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are set to resume is a badly needed foreign policy achievement for the Obama administration.
The talks seem unlikely to succeed, but six months of shuttle diplomacy by Kerry is the first example of successful American diplomacy in the Middle East in several years.
The many difficulties Kerry faced in simply getting the two sides to agree to the talks show how difficult the path ahead will be. The negotiations are so sensitive that American officials refused to release details of the agreement.
In his announcement, Kerry offered no details about what assurances had produced the accord. He took no questions and said that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had agreed to not comment on the talks either.
A senior US state department official declined to make the details of the agreement public because it could derail the talks.
“They did not reach final agreement on the core element of the deal until this afternoon,” the senior official said. “The secretary's trip to Ramallah was critical.”
“The deal came together very quickly in the afternoon,” the senior official added, and when that happens “you have to say elements need to be formalised.”
Kerry said Israeli and Palestinian leaders would begin peace talks next week in Washington. Publicly announcing the talks appeared to be a way to force the two sides to the table.
“What exactly they will be discussing remains to be determined,” the senior administration official said. “These guys are professional negotiators.”
For months, Palestinian officials have asked for the release of prisoners and a public announcement by Israeli officials that the talks would be based on Israel's 1967 borders, including land swaps that would include large Israeli settlements. Israeli officials said they would agree to no preconditions.
Announcing the talks without any details shows how difficult success will be. The senior state department official suggested that both sides had compromised.
“I'll also give credit to President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu,” the officials said. “They haven't made decisions like these before.”
The announcement is a boost for Kerry. For months, commentators have ridiculed his efforts as hopeless.
“The secretary kept on pushing,” the senior official said. “He showed incredible persistence and willpower.”
The announcement shows that after a decade of disastrous American military efforts in the region, American diplomacy can be an effective tool.
As I’ve written before, Washington’s options go beyond mounting massive military invasions and doing nothing at all in the Middle East. Kerry’s success shows that diplomacy can matter.
Again, the talks are likely to fail. I do not want to exaggerate what has occurred. In a region of seemingly endless setbacks, a small step forward has occurred.
Kerry may yet face criticism. The talks could fall apart in days as they did several years ago. He will be mocked for spending so much time on Israeli and Palestinian peace talks.
But on this day, Kerry is triumphant. And he deserves it.