Israel’s illegal settlements are causing quite a ruckus in Washington, and lines are being drawn here. A lead editorial in the Washington Post this Thursday said President Barack Obama’s “...administration is guilty of missteps.”
True or not, the US has been pushing. Several high-ranking US administration officials visited Israel recently. US Middle East envoy George Mitchell arrived there after shuttling between Damascus, Jerusalem, and Cairo, to push for talks on the implementation of a settlement freeze and on the renewal of Israeli-Syrian talks.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was in Israel recently, where he held talks on the American approach to Iran and other strategic issues.
National Security Adviser James Jones and White House adviser on the region, Dennis Ross, also held meetings in Israel as part of the settlement negotiations.
The visits came as both Obama and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are under attack for creating unnecessary tension in the US-Israel relationship.
“In light of the public brawling between ...Netanyahu and ...Obama,” wrote Haaretz columnist Zvi Bar’el, this week, “We can expect to start seeing graffiti saying things like ‘America, get out,’ ‘Obama is an Arab’ and ‘Neither a broker nor honest.’”
Indeed, such examples are popping up in US newspapers: “We are rebuilding the land of Israel,” Rabbi Yigael Shandorfi told the Washington Post regarding a new settlement they had illegally built in the “Samarian hills.” His message to President Obama is that the illegal settlements “are on Jewish land,” noted Ethan Bronner in the WP, adding that Rabbi Shandorfi “did not use the president’s name, but an insulting Hebrew slang for a black man and the phrase ‘that Arab they call a president.’”
With curious timing, both The Washington Post and The New York Times had lead editorials on Obama and the settlements issue this Thursday.
“Israeli leaders do not often risk being at odds with an American president, but polls show broad support for Netanyahu’s resistance. President Obama, a skilled communicator, has started a constructive dialogue with the Islamic world. Now he needs to explain to Israelis why freezing settlements and reviving peace talks is clearly in their interest,” noted the NYT.
“US and Israeli officials are working on a compromise that would allow Israel to complete some housing now under construction while freezing new starts for a defined period,” said The Washington Post.
“Arab states would be expected to take steps in return. Such a deal will expose Obama to criticism in the Arab world, — a public relations hit that he could have avoided had he not escalated the settlements dispute in the first place,” concluded the newspaper.
Dr. James Zobgy, head of the Washington-based Arab American Institute, acknowledged the difficulties the Obama administration is facing: “At worst, the president may find himself diminished among both Israelis and Arabs before discussions even begin on the issues on which US clout is most needed.”
Asked if he thought American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the fierce pro-Israel lobby in Washington, would now try to weaken the president, Zogby said no, not yet.
“They won’t fire until he becomes weaker. This may be an over-simplification, but if you want Middle East peace, you better hope Obama is able to pass his health care plan here in the US.”
AIPAC, said Zogby, “only picks on people when they’re down, and Obama is up right now. They won’t fire on him until they see blood.”
“Settlements”, said Zogby, “have been the issue and will be the issue. The question is — does Israel see them as occupied territories and are they willing to cede land for peace?”
“I understand the Arab reticence to move too hastily to offer normalization to Israel,” said Zogby. “They did that in 1991 in an agreement put together by James Baker III, the secretary of state for the President Bush senior.” Since that time, “Every major company that was operating in Saudi Arabia has moved into Israel and the GDP of Israel has doubled. Meanwhile, the settlement population has more than doubled since that time. Israel takes the fruit and gives nothing back. If you look where they’ve put the settlements, they are meant to strangle the area, and the Palestinians to be cut off from Jerusalem” Zogby told Arab News in a phone interview.
“I’m not sure that Obama has the wherewithal to do it at the end of the day, but he’s certainly giving it a try and deserves some credit for it,” said Zogby.
To accomplish this, he’s going to need help from the Netanyahu administration. Good luck, noted an editorial in a leading Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, on Wednesday. “Netanyahu is “behaving like someone itching for an unnecessary confrontation with America.”
“Netanyahu acted against Israel’s interest by harshly criticizing and insulting the president’s Jewish advisers (he called Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel a ‘self-hating Jew’) and by needlessly provoking Obama over the issue of construction in East Jerusalem,” the editorial noted.
Haaretz sees the series of high-profile visits from American officials as a “good opportunity for a turning point in relations between Israel and the Obama administration.
“Netanyahu needs to welcome his guests as allies rather than as representatives of a hostile administration angling to harm and humiliate Israel. A change in his approach, as well as avoiding additional provocations and crises, will be the first critical steps in building a new relationship with the United States.”
