THE expansion of Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territories and the return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland have long been the main stumbling blocks in the Mideast peace process. The continued settlement activity in Israel under successive governments has proved one point beyond an iota of doubt: Israel does not want peace to prevail in the region and is out to further its own hegemonistic designs. In its nefarious scheme of things, the Jewish state has stubbornly resisted any pressure - even if half-hearted - that the United States, Israel's unflinching supporter in the region, chose to exert on it on this thorny issue. For some inexplicable reasons, the Mideast peace Quartet, tasked with charting the region's peace road map, has been fighting shy of asking Tel Aviv to refrain from building more settlements in the occupied territories. Finally, it has come to realize the threats these settlements pose to the stability and peace in the region. At its meeting in London on Friday, the Quartet called on Israel to stop the activity forthwith. In addition, the Quartet also called on Israel to facilitate emergency and humanitarian assistance and provision of essential services to the residents of impoverished Gaza. Even though the Quartet has stopped short of castigating Israel, the call to end settlements is perhaps the first time the Quartet has come out with a statement against Israel. It is not easy to fathom this sudden turn-around, but, the Quartet call has come with a rider: That the Palestinian Authority should fulfill its commitment to fight terrorism and to accelerate steps to rebuild and refocus its security apparatus. What is strange is the fact that it is always the Palestinians who are asked to fulfill their commitments while Israel's defiance of international laws are unfailingly overlooked. The best course through which the lingering crisis can be resolved is to fall back on the Arab peace initiative which envisages Israeli pullback to the pre-1967 border in exchange of normalization of Arab relations with the Jewish state. But, again, the initiative is for those who want to grab the opportunity coming their way and not those who continue to prevaricate under one pretext or the other. Till now Israel has refused to endorse the initiative as it fears that it will put an end to its grandiose plan of Greater Israel. __
