Mitchell on negotiation: getting to “no”

From an interview with Charlie Rose (via Obama Mideast Monitor), here’s George Mitchell. In the beginning, they talk about the settlement freeze.

George Mitchell:
All you have to do is go back and read the papers over the past five or six years to see that it was not the Obama administration or the Secretary of State or I, who suggested a settlement freeze in this instance. Every Arab country, including the Palestinians, 13 of whom I visited before we began substantive discussions with the Israelis, said that there would not be any steps unless there is a freeze. Secondly, you’ve been in a lot of negotiations. If you want to get 60 percent, do you begin by asking for 60 percent?

Charlie Rose:
No. You ask for a hundred.

George Mitchell:
Oh, there you go, Charlie. You’ve already figured out negotiations. So what we got was — what we got was a moratorium, ten months, far less than what was requested, but more significant than any action taken by any previous government of Israel for the 40 years that the settlement enterprise has existed, ten months of no new starts in the West Bank, less than what we asked, much, much greater than any prior government has done. And we think over time it’s going to make a significant difference on the ground.

On the other said we have this:

Charlie Rose:
What are you getting from the Arab neighbors?

George Mitchell:
Well, there is, I believe, a strong feeling that the time has come for negotiations to begin. We’re getting a lot of encouragement in that regard. What we want from them is to build on the Arab peace initiative proposed by the king of Saudi Arabia in 2002, supported by all of the Arab and indeed the Muslim — non-Arab Muslim countries, and to engage with Israel in a way that moves toward the full normalization. We don’t ask for full normalization now. And I’ll give you specific examples. What we want is a parallel process as the Israelis and the Palestinians talk in negotiations, Israel, the Palestinians and all of the surrounding countries would meet to deal with regional issues, energy, water, trade, communications, transport, all of which have been discussed in the past but haven’t been brought to full fruition. And we think the way to move forward is an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, Israel and Syria, Israel and Lebanon, and full implementation of the Arab peace initiative. That’s the comprehensive peace in the region that is the objective set forth by the president and the Secretary of State.

Now the “Arab peace initiative” is a series of specific demands on Israel with some nebulous promises of “normalization” offered by the Arabs. But Mitchell seems to consider Saudi promises the equivalent of actual Israeli concessions.

Here also:

Charlie Rose:
Is the Arab Initiative helpful?

George Mitchell:
Yes it is. I commend the King of Saudi Arabia for the effort. It is a positive step in the right direction. By itself, it won’t be enough. It requires a negotiation and a discussion. By its very terms, it requires a negotiation, it says a negotiated end to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. We’re trying to in effect, fill in the space that it creates by calling for this type of agreement.

Mitchell talks about normalization between the Arab world and Israel but he never addressed the baby steps the administration asked of the Arabs that were rejected.

After talks with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said his country is not interested in taking steps suggested by US Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell until Israel accepts Arab demands to withdraw from all Palestinian territories.

Mitchell actually claims that the Saudis did not reject the American request.

Another misperception, he said, was that Arab countries had rebuffed Mr. Obama’s request to make moves toward a more normal relationship with Israel — a perception fueled by a Saudi official’s blunt public rejection of such incremental steps in Washington on Friday.

What part of “no” doesn’t he understand?

So to sum up, Mitchell believes that you ask for a lot from Israel to get a little, but that from the Arabs he asks for words and expects nothing. This guy knows about negotiation?

Related: Obama adopts the ‘Saudi plan’ and The Egyptian plan: Surrender Dorothy.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.