TEL AVIV - Shortly after he "defeated" United States President Barack Obama (to quote prominent Israeli analyst Aluf Benn) and forced him to retract a settlement construction freeze demand, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu started to back off. "I am prepared to immediately sit privately for direct, continuous negotiations with Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas] until white smoke emerges," Netanyahu proclaimed on Saturday.
In recent days, moreover, Netanyahu advanced two other controversial claims: that he had agreed to an extension of the settlement construction moratorium, and that he had supported the "two states for two peoples" formula for over 15 years. The latter claim, in particular, drew an angry response from Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni: "Nobody believes you because you say different things in different forums."
Also on Saturday, Abbas sounded an unusually optimistic note when he said that a peace agreement could be possible "within two months". According to the Americans and much of the international community, Abbas shares the blame for the failed negotiations with Netanyahu due to his unwavering refusal to compromise on his precondition for a full halt of settlement construction.
It's hard to avoid the fact that Israeli-Palestinian contacts never ceased. According to WikiLeaks and other reports, including occasional interviews with former leaders such as Ehud Olmert, the understandings established are far deeper and closer than what is generally known to the public. The peace process is essentially a show, and until its alternative, the show of violence, becomes more profitable to one of the sides, it will most likely go on in some form.
