U.N. Secretary-General tries to get Israeli-Palestine talks going

By: Pamela Falk
Topics: World Watch ,; Middle East

CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pam Falk traveled with U.N. Secretary General Bank Ki-moon this week in the Mideast.

During his Middle East trip, Ban Ki-moon focused on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The U.N. Secretary-General was met with protesters in Gaza, who attacked his convoy with sticks and shoes, but was applauded by schoolgirls at a U.N.-run school in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Palestinians hurl shoes at visiting U.N. chief

In Israel and the Palestinian territories, the Secretary-General met separately with Israeli President Shimon Peres as well as with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Perez said that Israel's talks with the Palestinians in Jordan were not at an end despite differences between the two sides.

While in Amman, Ban focused on the Jordan initiative of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which are proposed along the timeline suggested by the European Union, Russia, the U.N., and the U.S.

However, Netanyahu condemned a new Palestinian deal to form a unity government as a step away from the peace process.

Violence in Syria and threats from Iran weighed heavily on the Secretary General's trip, and he spoke about the instability caused by both on the Middle East peace process.

Ban's message, that the stalemate in reaching a two-state solution has gone on too long, during his Middle East trip was clear. Whether or not he will succeed in his mission is unclear, but his message to Israeli and Palestinian negotiators was direct: Get back to the talks.

Pamela Falk
Pamela Falk is CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst and an international lawyer, based at the United Nations.

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by MacMeq February 10, 2012 9:15 PM EST

Again and again the Arabs have rejected peace in any form The 1967 Khartoum Resolution of the Arab League stated flatly 'No negotiations, no recognition, no peace'. The Hamas Charter, the Fatah Constitution and the Hezbollah Risala maftuha all say the same thing. Palestinian use of terrorism and glorification of terrorists give the same message. What they say in English doesn't matter. It's what they say to each other in Arabic that counts. I am sick and tired of men like Ban Ki Moon and Obama pretending this is not the case. Did they learn nothing from Bill Clinton, as another commentator here has pointed out? By refusing to take the Arabs at their word, they make peace impossible, yet they pretend to be working for it. You do not achieve peace by dealing with people who only seek the destruction of the other side, with leaders who still have blood on their hands. Again and again the Israelis have made painful concessions for peace while the Palestinians have done precisely the opposite. The UN, the US, the UK and all others 'involved' in these 'negotiations' need to read what the Arabs and Iranians say. If they can't read Arabic, I'll translate the texts. If they can't read Farsi, I'll translate all that as well. If I know all this, don't they have translators and scholars who can give them an honest picture? Do they have the smallest excuse for their shifty faithlessness? They need to come down hard on the Palestinians, put Hamas and Fatah out of business, take away the money they pay for absolutely nothing in return, and stop treating Israel as if IT is the pariah state. The rest are monsters and it's time we stopped pretending they are angels, because they are angels with bombs strapped to their chests and their leaders love it because it makes them feel awfully big, and their inflated egos and paralyzing hatred are all that matter to them.

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by DovBenMen February 11, 2012 1:14 PM EST: economicterror's self-loathing hate persists across all and only topics involving Israel, Israelis, and Jews. What dishonor and deep seated emotional damage his family must have done to the poor boy, that he must lash out as he does ... The shame and shame fullness of it all is apparently unbearable.