Middle East Quartet - a hypocrite institution

The Middle East Quartet includes the US, EU, Russia and the UN. It was formed in 2002 to seek "comprehensive security reform," mediate the Israeli-Palestinian "peace process," address Occupied Palestine's deepening humanitarian crisis, among other stated objectives.

The Quartet identified 2008 as a crucial year to meet specific goals and obligations. So far they're unfulfilled with no prospect they will be in the new year. It prompted The Group's critical report with recommendations going forward for "swift" and "dramatic" action so far not undertaken. Otherwise "it will be necessary to question what the future is for the Middle East Quartet."

Middle East Online contributor Rami Khouri said "Let the Quartet Die (for) provid(ing) cover for Israeli colonialism and its American guardians." Instead of being an "impartial and decisive instrument of peace-making," it served as a "fig leaf designed to hide American dominance of a diplomatic process" primarily to serve Israeli interests. It's been a talking shop with no teeth and acted against, not for, Palestinian rights. It was highlighted by its failure:

• to recognize Hamas' democratic election;
  
• not demand that Israel respect international law;
  
• halt its illegal settlement expansions;
  
• refrain from using excessive force;
  
• allow free movement and access; and
  
• end its illegal occupation.
  

Khouri called the Quartet "a dishonest institution" and its special envoy Tony Blair "the Diplomatic Olympics Gold Medal Winner for Political Fraudulence." It should announce that it "failed (and must) withdraw immediately," end its charade, and prevent any more damage than it's already done.

Other Quartet critics voice similar sentiments. Among them John Dugard, the UN Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on Palestine. He accused the Quartet of being "heavily influenced" by the US. It "does itself little good by remaining" one of its members. America has done nothing to protect Palestinian civilians. It fails to address Israel's violations of international human rights law, and it "should be playing the role of the mediator," not siding with Fatah over Hamas.

Former UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Quartet envoy Alvaro de Soto was even harsher in his End of Mission Report, shortly before he stepped down. At first it was confidential, but it's now available online, and it's damning.

He said he was "encouraged to be candid" and he was. That Quartet (and UN) policy failed because it one-sidedly supports US and Israeli interests. It undermines a legitimate peace process and any hope for an independent Palestinian state. He urged the Secretary-General to leave it and said history will hold him accountable.

He condemned the Quartet for not recognizing the Hamas government and said it was "transformed from a negotiation-promoting foursome guided by a common document (the Road Map) into a body that was all-but imposing sanctions on a freely elected government of a people under occupation as well as setting unattainable preconditions for dialogue."

He called the consequences of the Quartet position "devastating:"

• creating intolerable conditions on the ground;
  
• achieving "precisely the opposite effect" of its mandate by allowing Israel's oppressive occupation;
  
• letting hundreds of civilians (to be killed) in sustained heavy incursions and (destroyed) infrastructure, some of it wanton such as the surgical strikes on (Gaza's) only power plant."
  
• America dominates the Quartet. It, in turn, "take(s) all pressure off Israel (and) focus(es only) on the failings of Hamas." After two years as Quartet envoy, De Soto concluded that it failed as a diplomatic instrument. "As a practical matter, the Quartet is pretty much a group of friends of the US - and the US doesn't feel the need to consult closely with (it) except when it suits it."

Text taken from the article The Quartet's Hypocrisy and Failure in Occupied Palestine