The new round of Middle East peace talks which started in Jerusalem on August 14, seems differ markedly from some of the intense face-to-face negotiations that Israeli and Palestinian leaders have conducted in the past in the hope of finally reaching a final agreement between the two parties. Instead, the process this time which is meant to result in a deal after nine months begin with a meeting between two appointed negotiators from each side, with an American emissary refereeing. None of them will have the power to cut a deal. This raises a “Question Mark” on the seriousness of the talks. For instance Israeli side is represented by Tzipi Luuivni, the former Foreign Minister of Israel who joined Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet with the explicit promise that he would make her a negotiator with the Palestinians and that he would support a resumption of peace talks. Formerly a stalwart of the Israeli right wing, Livni has in recent years become committed to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state as part of a final deal. But her Tnuah party only brought six of 120 Knesset seats into Netanyahu’s coalition, meaning she carries limited political influence with her to the negotiating table.

Netanyahu has appointed veteran lawyer Isaac Molho his chief negotiator for the peace talk’s sources close to the Premier said, Netanyahu puts complete faith in Molho and views him as a straight shooter who doesn’t have a hidden agenda or his own political ambitions. But Israeli press has reported Molho as a “Babysitter” who has been sent in to make sure that Livni is coordinating closely with Netanyahu and not making offers he would never be prepared to honor. Moreover United Stated is also not looking unbiased which is a mandatory condition for a mediator the U.S. special envoy to the talks is Martin Indyk a former ambassador to Israel who used to work for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel lobby group in the United States. His other pro-Israel credentials are too long to list. Everything is not fine either from Palestinian side as well all the stake holder of Palestine most important of them is HAMAS (Islamic party which rules Gaza Strip) is not participating in these talks. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar told a news conference in Gaza that peace talks with Israel were "futile," repeating its rejection of negotiations and he added that we call on the Palestinian people to unite in confronting the crime that is the peace talks. This raises the doubts over legitimacy of peace talks in which only one Palestinian party .i.e. Fatah is participating.

In these talks every participant has its own agenda and there is no common goal to achieve like the Americans want to focus on borders and security, the Israelis want security only, Palestinian are only talking about a state in the 1967 borders. Main spoilsport for this peace game is the state of Israel which announces further settlement expansion on Palestinian land, which is illegal under international law. Its cabinet has just given final approval for the construction of almost 1,200 new settlement homes, some located deep inside the occupied West Bank. Furthermore, 20 settlements were added to a list of those prioritized for government subsidies, just days after the resumption of talks. How can one accept the sincerity and good faith of one party when it continues to colonize the territory of those they are negotiating with? This is exactly what Israel wants, have a process for its own sake, and at the same time have a free hand to destroy the objective of the process. Israel is highly uncooperative for these peace talks it not only maintains its rejectionism of an Palestinian state but its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has complained to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about “incitement” by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for his recent statement that a future Palestinian state “would not see the presence of a single Israeli - civilian or soldier.” Someone should ask Israelis that if that is too much to ask for, why is Abbas negotiating with Netanyahu - to determine the size of Israel’s presence in a Palestinian state?

Even the atmosphere in Israeli society is against these talks according to a new poll by the Israeli Democracy Institute, most Israelis oppose a withdrawal to the internationally recognized borders that existed prior to 1967, even with land swaps. Most are also against the return of even a small number of refugees, or their compensation. With this kind of public sentiments and close mindset what Tel-Aviv will negotiate? But it raises a one very valid question that if Israelis are not sincere about these talks then why they are indulging into it. The answer is simple to take the steam out of the growing international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. European Union, Israel’s largest trading partner, will start implementing a ground-breaking recent directive that from 2014 it will forbid all 28 member states from funding or dealing with Israeli settlements, and require a clear distinction in all signed agreements between Israel and the occupied territories. Both the BDS movement and the EU directive have caused fury and alarm in Israel. So, Jewish regime is doing this mock drill of peace talks just to improve its global image.

There is the highest probability that these peace talks will also meet the same fate of talks that happened in Oslo in 1993 and Camp David in 2000. Flawed talks will inevitably lead to failure. Every failure convinces more people of the futility of diplomacy, and perhaps even of non-violent resistance. Which strengthen the positions of extremists of both sides and more and more people starts thinking that armed struggle is the only way to get justice and not talks. So if both the parties don’t want to flare up the fire of extremism or even starting of “Third Intifada” then they  should deliver some concrete and acceptable peace plans within the  nine months deadline of peace talks.