Israel Rejects All US Proposals to Meet with Palestinians

National Security Council chairman Eyal Hulata meets with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Washington on August 3, 2021. (US State Department/Twitter)
National Security Council chairman Eyal Hulata meets with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Washington on August 3, 2021. (US State Department/Twitter)
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Israel Rejects All US Proposals to Meet with Palestinians

National Security Council chairman Eyal Hulata meets with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Washington on August 3, 2021. (US State Department/Twitter)
National Security Council chairman Eyal Hulata meets with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Washington on August 3, 2021. (US State Department/Twitter)

Israel has once again rejected a proposal by an American delegation visiting Israel to bring senior Israeli and Palestinian officials together in a meeting to discuss the stalled peace process.

According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the meeting would be similar to the one attended by Israeli, US and Arab officials in the Negev in March, but would now include Palestinian officials as well, in preparation for US President Joe Biden's visit to the region in July.

Israeli officials told their US counterparts that it is “a bad idea because it would seem like the beginning of a political process without any guarantee for its success.”

They also stressed that they don’t need mediators to facilitate talks with the Palestinians, noting that both sides maintain permanent contact, in reference to their security cooperation.

This is the second time Israel rejects a proposal to hold talks with Palestinians in a political framework.

Earlier this month, Deputy US Secretary of State Wendy Sherman proposed a five-party summit, which would convene the foreign ministers of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the United States, Egypt and Jordan in Washington or a regional venue, such as Egypt or Jordan.

This came during her meeting with Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata in Washington.

However, Hulata reportedly said that the Israeli government deems the conditions on both sides not ripe for such an initiative and stressed that Israel isn't interested in a “photo-op” that ends with nothing, resulting in an “expectation crisis.”

In Ramallah, Haaretz reported that Palestinians are upset because the current US administration hasn’t made any political changes, but rather adopted a different rhetoric and terminology.

When the US proposed on Palestine to hold this summit, officials stressed that such a meeting should include an Israeli commitment to the two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, otherwise, the meeting would be useless.

Palestinian officials and diplomats said that all Palestinian appeals to the United States to move forward with a diplomatic process have so far been met with claims that the political situation in Israel is too fragile for talks to resume, Haaretz reported.

“They talk as if only Israel has a government and public opinion that has to be considered,” said one source. “What about Palestinian public opinion and what about the aggression against Palestinians?”

Palestinian officials also reportedly presented the US delegation with a list of demands unrelated to the Israeli government – including the re-opening of the US consulate in East Jerusalem, which serves mainly Palestinians, removing the Palestine Liberation Organization from the US list of terror groups, and restoring the economic aid.

“These are decisions that the United States can make unilaterally and don’t require hollow summit meetings to be advanced,” said one Palestinian official.



Egypt Says GERD Lacks Legally Binding Agreement

This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
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Egypt Says GERD Lacks Legally Binding Agreement

This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)

Egypt said Friday that Ethiopia has consistently lacked the political will to reach a binding agreement on its now-complete dam, an issue that involves Nile River water rights and the interests of Egypt and Sudan.

Ethiopia’s prime minister said Thursday that the country’s power-generating dam, known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), on the Nile is now complete and that the government is “preparing for its official inauguration” in September.

Egypt has long opposed the construction of the dam, because it would reduce the country's share of Nile River waters, which it almost entirely relies on for agriculture and to serve its more than 100 million people.

The more than the $4 billion dam on the Blue Nile near the Sudan border began producing power in 2022. It’s expected to eventually produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity — double Ethiopia’s current output.

Ethiopia and Egypt have spent years trying to reach an agreement over the dam, which Ethiopia began building in 2011.

Both countries reached no deal despite negotiations over 13 years, and it remains unclear how much water Ethiopia will release downstream in case of a drought.

Egyptian officials, in a statement, called the completion of the dam “unlawful” and said that it violates international law, reflecting “an Ethiopian approach driven by an ideology that seeks to impose water hegemony” instead of equal partnership.

“Egypt firmly rejects Ethiopia’s continued policy of imposing a fait accompli through unilateral actions concerning the Nile River, which is an international shared watercourse,” Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said in a statement Friday.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in his address to lawmakers Thursday, said that his country “remains committed to ensuring that our growth does not come at the expense of our Egyptian and Sudanese brothers and sisters.”

“We believe in shared progress, shared energy, and shared water,” he said. “Prosperity for one should mean prosperity for all.”

However, the Egyptian water ministry said Friday that Ethiopian statements calling for continued negotiations “are merely superficial attempts to improve its image on the international stage.”

“Ethiopia’s positions, marked by evasion and retreat while pursuing unilateralism, are in clear contradiction with its declared willingness to negotiate,” the statement read.

However, Egypt is addressing its water needs by expanding agricultural wastewater treatment and improving irrigation systems, according to the ministry, while also bolstering cooperation with Nile Basin countries through backing development and water-related projects.