Israel Matzav

Ayalon: The hell you'll impose a 'peace plan'

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Sunday night, Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister (and former ambassador to the United States) Danny Ayalon warned that Israel would reject any American attempt to impose benchmarks or timelines on negotiations between Israel and the 'Palestinians' (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

"I don't believe this will be accepted by the administration because it will be a grave mistake...The solution has to be homegrown," Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal late Sunday.

Mr. Ayalon, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington, is a member of the political party of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who opposes a near-term deal with the Palestinians. Aides to Mr. Netanyahu said on Monday that the prime minister's office was in accord with the Foreign Ministry on resisting any U.S. plan to establish its own parameters.

"The longstanding Israeli position, not of this government only, but of successive Israeli governments, is that the Israelis and the Palestinians have to live together in peace and that an agreement has to be negotiated between them directly," said a senior Netanyahu administration official.

The spokesman for the Palestinian Authority on Monday joined other Arab officials in calling for direct U.S. intervention in the peace process.

"The reason why Israel doesn't want anybody to interfere is simply they are exploiting the balance of powers between us and them," said the spokesman, Ghassan Khatib.

The Quartet, a grouping of bodies promoting Mideast peace that includes the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, last month targeted a two-year timeline for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton set his own parameters in late 2000, which defined the peace process around the creation of a Palestinian state based on the pre-June 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

...

[T]he Obama administration has been pressing Mr. Netanyahu's government to pursue new confidence-building measures to underpin the resumption of peace talks. Among those discussed with Israeli officials, according to U.S. officials, are different formulas under which to enact a freeze on Israeli construction in neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, potentially for four months or longer.

Washington also has called on Mr. Netanyahu's government to release some Palestinian political prisoners and ease the economic siege of the Gaza Strip.

Mr. Netanyahu's government has yet to formally convey its response to the White House's recommendations, according to U.S. and Israeli officials. Mr. Ayalon stressed in the interview that dialogue between his government and Washington is continuing and that the U.S. hasn't made any specific demands of Israel. But the Israeli diplomat said the U.S. should understand the limits of a third party playing a brokering role between Israel and the Palestinian Authority's government in the West Bank.

"The real negotiations, and the go-betweens, should be between...Jerusalem and Ramallah and not Jerusalem and Washington. Jerusalem and Washington are on the same side," Mr. Ayalon said.

Mr. Netanyahu's government believes the principal focus of the international community in coming months should be on containing Iran's nuclear program, Mr. Ayalon said.

If everyone else can say no to Obama, so can we. And somehow, I don't think that Obama will want to take punitive measures against a country with 67% positive ratings in the US on behalf of a group favored by 15% of Americans just a few months before midterm elections.

Has Bibi found his spine? This is encouraging.

For those who cannot access full articles in the Wall Street Journal, you can find the full article here.

Jennifer Rubin adds:

So once again one must ask of the Obami Israel policy: what is the point? Rather than absorb the lessons of 2009 — that the Israeli government cannot be strong-armed and that Bibi’s government can’t be toppled by the likes of Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, and Obama — the Obami have repeated and intensified their efforts to squeeze our ally. Yes, maybe this time we can use Jerusalem to pry them loose! Ah, the threat of an imposed peace — that’ll do it! But alas, all we’ve done, apparently is create a wedge between the U.S. and our ally, communicated to the Palestinians that they should just hold firm, and telegraphed to Israel’s neighbors that we are flaky friends.

This isn't 1990. Binyamin Netanyahu has much more support than Yitzchak Shamir had then and Israel is a much stronger country than it was then. And Obama doesn't come up to George H.W. Bush's ankles.

Heh.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:16 PM