The ball is now in the court of the international actors and Israel, who have to decide whether this formulation marks a move toward acceptance of the Quartet’s conditions and allows them to begin to work with the new Palestinian government and remove the sanctions or whether it simply falls too far short of their demands and therefore obliges them to persist in their pressure.
The indications are that a split will develop over this question between the United and Israel, on one side, and the European Union and Russia, on the other. The former will probably maintain a more rigid position while the Europeans will claim – and this is already the declared position of Russia – that the Mecca Agreement constitutes the beginning of a process of moderation in Hamas’ posture that should be encouraged by working with the new government and easing the sanctions.
February 22, 2007
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Determined to Reach a Common Objective
“We knew at the outset that the task would be difficult. We acknowledged that publicly and privately. We knew this would be a road with many bumps— and there have been many bumps—and that continues to this day. But we are not deterred. We are, to the contrary, determined more than ever to proceed to realize the common objective, which we all share, of a Middle East that is at peace with security and prosperity for the people of Israel, for Palestinians, and for all the people in the region. We will continue our efforts in that regard, undeterred and undaunted by the difficulties, the complexities or the bumps in the road.”—George Mitchell, special envoy for Middle East peace, remarks with Prime Minister Netanyahu, September 29, 2010Middle East Analysis
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