Three senior advisors to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday traveled to Cairo in the hope of working with Egypt towards compelling PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) to return to the negotiating table with Israel. National Security Advisor Dr. Uzi Arad, Yitzchak Molcho and Brigadier-General Mike Herzog, a former military advisor to Defense Minister Ehud Barak traveled to Cairo on a mission, hoping to advance the regional diplomatic process.

Interestingly, both Israel and the United States are working feverishly towards renewed talks with the PA leader while Abu Mazen continues to promote his agenda and announce his preconditions, seemingly unfettered by the pressure to resume talks. Quite the contrary, Abu Mazen continues to blame Israel, explaining Jerusalem is not adhering to demands for a settlement freeze and he insists that Israel agree to a withdrawal to pre-1967 borders as a precondition to talks.

America is also picking up diplomatic efforts, with the arrival of special envoy George Mitchell, who is expected to apply pressure on both sides to re-launch stalled talks. Mitchell’s arrival comes amid threats to cut US loan guarantees for Israel, a statement that he tried to retract but his position was made crystal clear in a PBS TV interview last week. Amid the threats, Mitchell also announced that if his efforts are unsuccessful again, the White House may take a diminished role in regional peace-making efforts, an announcement that was met with the approval of many who are less than pleased with US President Barak Obama’s policies vis-à-vis regional diplomatic efforts.

Not everyone is as optimistic as Mitchell, including Israeli Ambassador to Washington Dr. Michael Oren, who was quoted in the Washington Post calling Mitchell’s two-year deadline for talks between Israel and the PA as “unrealistic”, explaining statehood talks take a long time.

In an effort to implement damage control, officials in the Prime Minister’s Office released a statement that Oren’s remarks were his own, and he was not acting on instructions from Jerusalem.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)