The Middle East Quartet published its long-awaited report on obstacles to the 2-state solution and recommendations for restarting peace negotiations this quarter. Although rumored to include unprecedentedly harsh language about Israel, the final draft drew criticism from both Israeli and Palestinian officials, but led to no major advances in the diplomatic process.
As the quarter opened, the Quartet’s report was being delayed indefinitely by Israeli pressure to soften its allegedly harsh language. On 6/21, senior Israeli and Western diplomats said that Netanyahu was undertaking lastminute efforts to further soften the language. Other Israeli officials were reportedly worried (6/21) that the Quartet intended to use the report as the basis for a UN Security Council (UNSC) res. targeting Israel.
The final draft of the report was published on 7/1 after 2 days of pronounced violence in the oPt (see “The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict” above). The draft highlighted various steps that have obstructed a 2-state solution, including, but not limited to, so-called Palestinian incitement and Israeli settlement growth. Netanyahu’s office rejected (7/1) the report and any notion that Palestinian violence and Israeli settlement growth might be related. “We regret the failure of the Quartet to address the real core of the conflict: the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people in any boundaries,” the statement read. The Palestinian response was similarly negative: the PA suspended cooperation with the Quartet, according to a report in al-Hayat on 7/5, and Abbas encouraged (7/6) the UNSC to reject the report, arguing that it was “unfit for the task of peace.”