Monday, November 23, 2020
Elder of Ziyon
Remember The Quartet? That was the group made up of the US, UN, EU and Russia in 2002 to push the Oslo process along during the second intifada when Palestinian terrorists were blowing up Jews in Israeli cities.
Besides creating a "roadmap" that went nowhere, it really hasn't done much.
The Quartet does issue reports every once in a while, including one as recently as last month that no one noticed. That report discusses the Palestinian refusal to cooperate with Israel:
There has been no notable progress in addressing outstanding fiscal files. The PA’s decision – in response to the threat of annexation and deductions to clearance revenues – to stop accepting the monthly revenues from the GoI, combined with reduced tax generation, reduced PA monthly revenue by 80 per cent. Resuming acceptance of monthly clearance revenue transfers as well as any accumulated sums to date will go some way to addressing this crisis. ...In the security sector, the suspension of security cooperation limited the PA’s ability to enforce COVID related restrictions outside PA cities, particularly in rural areas, as well as its ability to monitor the flow of Palestinian labour crossing to and from Israel. It also hampered the PA’s ability to enforce rule of law in much of the West Bank. Resumption of security coordination that enables PA Security Forces to provide effective law enforcement to communities residing outside Area A is strongly encouraged.
Now that the PA walked back its refusal to deal with Israel, the Quarter apparently woke up to issue a statement of support for the Palestinians not acting like spoiled brats. I couldn't find the Quartet statement, but PLO leader Abbas praised the Quartet for complimenting him on resuming what should never have stopped.
The Palestinian Presidency welcomed the position issued by the International Quartet meeting, which confirmed that the Palestinian move to restore relations with the Israeli side creates the necessary conditions for building confidence and returning to direct negotiations on the basic issues related to the final status.The presidency welcomed the positive evaluation of the Palestinian move by the Quartet representatives during their meeting, which included the Russian Federation, the United States of America, the United Nations and the European Union
The Quartet spends about $6 million annually. In the words of Palestinian officials in 2012, the Quartet is "useless, useless, useless."
But it is much easier to create bureaucracies to work on Oslo-era issues than it is to end them.
