Papers unimpressed by Olmert-Abbas summit

Despite the Palestinian assertion that Sunday’s talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas were positive, Palestinian newspapers remain unconvinced.

Israeli commentators were more hopeful that such meetings might eventually move the peace process along.

TALAL AWKAL in PALESTINIAN AL-AYYAM

Talk about the positive results of the meeting is a kind of diplomatic propriety based on deceit, which we should not allow to continue. The very modest results of this meeting make it a scandal and show how negative it was.

ALI JARADAT in PALESTINIAN AL-AYYAM

The continued policy of extortion intended to make the Palestinians yield to the US-Israeli conditions for lifting the economic siege and political isolation makes it difficult for us to believe the Israeli government coalition intends to get back to the negotiating table and reinvigorate the peace.

EDITORIAL in PALESTINIAN AL-QUDS

It was clear even before the meeting that Israel is clinging to a series of conditions, and not only to the international community’s requests. It has added a condition that the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit should be released without showing any readiness to recognise Palestinian rights, lift the siege, release Palestinian prisoners or even stop its repeated acts of aggression.

DANNY RUBINSTEIN in ISRAEL’S HA’ARETZ

It appears that such meetings are important even though no one expects them to produce results and many perceived it as pointless… If there are no diplomatic meetings, if there are no efforts to renew the peace process then Abbas is irrelevant and no one needs him. Something like that can also be said about Olmert… In this context it may be asked: What point is there in a prime minister who serves as little more than a punchbag?… Olmert should be praised and encouraged to meet with Abbas as often as possible. Who knows, maybe something will even come of it in the end.

BEN KASPIT in ISRAEL’S MA’ARIV

When expectations are rock-bottom it is difficult to be disappointed… Because no one expected anything to come out of this meeting, because most expected its resounding failure, from all these negative expectations a small, hesitant, non-committal plus loomed. The atmosphere was good, the chemistry not bad, the positions closer than ever. It is not possible to go to the shop or the ballot box with this, but it is much better than nothing.

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