Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has named a leading critic of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to head negotiations between Israel and the
Palestinian Authority for the establishment of a West Bank state in 2014.

The administration of President Barack Obama said Martin Indyk would
lead the U.S. team that would coordinate between Israel and the PA in talks
slated to last nine months.

Obama said Indyk, a senior official under President Bill Clinton, was selected for his experience in Israel-Palestinian affairs.

In an interview with NPR on Marach 17, 2010, Indyk called Netanyahu a conservative and a Zionist.

“My sense of Bibi [Netanyahu], from working closely with him some time ago, was that he was much more a Republican — that is, a genuine conservative — than he was a Likudnic. . . . But when he goes home at night, it’s a different story. [T]he people he lives with, are hard-line, Zionist, right-wing ideologues who don’t believe in making concessions to the Arabs, and don’t believe in giving up territory.”

“Ambassador Indyk brings unique experience and insight to this role, which will allow him to contribute immediately as the parties begin down the tough, but necessary, path of negotiations,” Obama said on July 29.

Indyk, expected to travel often to Israel and the PA, has served as U.S. ambassador to Israel as well as assistant secretary of state in the 1990s. In 2012, Indyk became a leading figure in attacks by those close to the
Obama administration on Netanyahu, accusing the prime minister of being too weak to make peace with the Palestinians.

“Ambassador Indyk is realistic,” Secretary of State John Kerry said.
“And he shares my belief that if the leaders on both sides continue to show
strong leadership and a willingness to make those tough choices and a
willingness to reasonably compromise, then peace is possible.”

Officials said Indyk would be responsible for ensuring progress in the
Israel-PA negotiations for a Palestinian state in the West Bank. They
pointed to Israel’s agreement to the U.S. terms for the talks, which
included a withdrawal by the Jewish state from the entire West Bank and most
of Jerusalem.

“The parties have agreed here today that all of the final status issues,
all of the core issues and all other issues are all on the table for
negotiation,” Kerry said on July 30. “And they are on the table with one
simple goal: a view to ending the conflict, ending the claims. Our objective
will be to achieve a final status agreement over the course of the next nine
months.”

In 2012, Indyk told Israel’s Army Radio that he did not expect a peace
agreement between Israel and the PA. But in an appearance with Kerry on July
29, Indyk said the secretary of state, backed by Obama, achieved the renewal
of Israel-PA talks.

“Because of your confidence that it could be done, you took up the
challenge when most people thought you were on a mission impossible,” Indyk
said. “And backed by the president, you drove the effort with persistence,
patience, and creativity. As a result, today, Prime Minister Netanyahu and
President Mahmoud Abbas have made the tough decisions required to come back
to the negotiating table.”

Indyk, assigned to oversee the daily activities of the negotiations,
said the goal of the negotiations was to achieve a Palestinian state
alongside Israel. He said a key member of the U.S. negotiating team would be
his deputy Frank Lowenstein, a senior adviser at the State Department.

“I look forward with great excitement to working with you, President
Abbas, and Prime Minister Netanyahu, and their teams, to do our best to
achieve President Obama’s vision of two states living side-by-side in peace
and security,” Indyk said.

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