Obama committed to close ties with Israel - but demands settlement freeze
DEBKAfile Special Report
June 2, 2009
Ahead of his high-profile speech of reconciliation to the Muslims world June 4, US president Barack Obama vowed to sustain close US tie with Israel but said the status quo in the region was "unsustainable" for Israel's security.
In a National Public Radio interview late Monday, June 1, he emphasized his differences with Israel when he said: "We do have to retain a constant belief in… negotiations that will lead to peace" and "I've said that a freeze on settlements, including expansion to accommodate successive generations of settlers, is part of that." Earlier Monday, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that halting construction in West Bank settlements would be equal to “freezing life,” and, therefore, “unreasonable.”
"The United States special relationship with Israel requires some tough love," Obama went on to say.
"Part of being a good friend is being honest," he said. "I think there have been times when we are not as honest as we should be about the fact that the current direction… in the region is profoundly negative, not only for Israeli interests but also for US interests."
Obama also called on the Palestinians to improve security – a new White House demand meaning an end to terror and anti-Israel incitement.
DEBKAfile's Washington sources report that Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak's hopes of modifying the administration's stance on West Bank settlements and a Palestinians state during his current talks with US officials are unfounded: "New dialogue" is the current byword, as the US president reiterated, and it will not be abandoned until, or unless, it is completely unstuck. Obama's address to Muslims is integral to this policy as is his insistence on engaging Iran in diplomacy on its nuclear program.
Therefore the Netanyahu government's strategy of skirting the real issues to avoid a clash will not work.
Israeli leaders must practice the same honesty as the United States – and be less defensive, say DEBKAfile's political sources, and state loudly that the Arab and Muslim world thrusts the "Middle East" issue, a euphemism for Israel, to the fore to present a solid front to the West, while avoiding addressing the real problems afflicting their societies and relations with the United States.
Even if every single settlement was removed from the West Bank, would Iran stop developing nuclear weapons? Would the Taliban, backed by al Qaeda, stop fighting to regain power in Afghanistan and Islamize Pakistan? Would the radical Middle East front led by Hizballah be stopped from winning Lebanon's general election on June 6 and dropping Beirut in the laps of Syria and Iran? Is Israel involved in the fate of Iraq?
And Israel must say just as frankly that, even for the Palestinians, locked as they are in bitter armed infighting, Israel is now a peripheral presence. The extremist Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip after Israel's 2005 evacuation of every last settlement, is now bent on capturing the West Bank from the Palestinian Authority. While Mahmoud Abbas and President Obama talked quietly in the White House last week, Hamas laid plans to replicate embattled Beirut in Nablus, Tulkarm, Jenin, and Qalqilya, certain of its victory regardless of the training PA security forces receive from US, British and Canadian instructors.
Netanyahu would do far better to lay these issues out publicly and the clear the air over differences with Washington with "tough honesty" instead of pussyfooting around them.
As for clearing the air in US-Muslim relations, DEBKAfile's Middle East sources report rising resentment over the forthcoming Obama speech in the very Muslim circles which the US president wants to placate.
One point made in their media is that the Muslim world cannot be addressed as a single collective unit - a kind of one size fits all; another is that they would prefer deeds and will not buy the magical Obama rhetoric or his promises. The top priority shared by almost every Muslim is the removal of US troops from their neighborhood. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are seen as American wars against Muslims rather than campaigns against terror.
President Obama is also criticized for picking Cairo as the venue for his speech. Some Muslim columnists say the choice brings no comfort to President Hosni Mubarak and his regime because the Muslim Brotherhood, its Palestinian offshoot Hamas and other radical Islamic groups will be able seize on it as a gesture of understanding for their cause.
Egyptians are also deeply offended by his decision to use Cairo as a platform and then leave without spending a single night there as a guest.
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