TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The Middle East peace process appears to be heading towards a long period of political stagnation on all tracks, due to the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.
Shlomo Avineri, former director general at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, projected the stagnation in an interview with United Press International Monday.
"I believe that the basic thing which has changed is that the current government, which was elected on the basis of Ehud Olmert's convergence plan, has become in a position unable to fulfill its political agenda," Avineri said.
Under the convergence plan sketched by Olmert, the government sought to impose Israel's final borders through a unilateral pullback from parts of the occupied West Bank and concentrating settlers in a big population center annexed to Israel.
Avineri played down U.S. efforts to re-launch the deadlocked peace process between Israel and the Palestinians during a tour of the Middle East by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"The problem at stake now is that any serious negotiations with the Palestinians necessitate the presence of a master of the Palestinian house," he said.
"Since Hamas' victory in general elections there is an unclear situation in the sense of who is ruling the Palestinian Authority... This might change in the future, but what is clear is that there is no single leader of the house," Avineri said.
Avineri also projected no movement on the peace track between Israel and Syria, noting: "I don't see in the Syrian position or in the Israeli stance any fundamental change that makes me hope for a better success from the past."
He argued that Israel and Syria were close to reaching an agreement when negotiations broke down in January 2000 over demarcation of the border, and said nothing has changed since, making him believe that no success will come in the immediate future.
