Looking Ahead to the "November Meeting": Negotiations with the Palestinians: An Inevitable Failure or a Chance for Change?

Over the last few weeks Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) have conducted political discussions meant to culminate in a joint declaration according to the Israeli approach, or in an agreement on principles according to the Palestinian approach. Underlying this process are first and foremost Olmert’s and Abu Mazen’s shared interests. Both leaders feel the need to demonstrate some progress in the international meeting scheduled to take place in the US in November. At the same time, the current negotiations are also a result of the sense of political distress felt by both leaders. Olmert – in the wake of the Second Lebanon War, publication of the interim report of the Winograd Commission, and the withdrawal of the convergence plan – must generate a new political agenda and demonstrate to the Israeli public some achievements. Abu Mazen – against a backdrop of Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip, and in view of the difficult domestic political situation in the Palestinian Authority – also feels the need to offer his constituency some tangible results.