Israel Matzav

Video: Jackson Diehl interviews Michael Oren

Here's an interview by the Washington Post's Jackson Diehl with Israel's ambassador to the United States Michael Oren regarding the current impasse between Israel and the 'Palestinians.' The interview was conducted on Wednesday.

Let's go to the videotape. More after the video.



Diehl is critical of the Obama administration.

Both sides agree that the issue is purely symbolic. No Israeli settlement construction that occurs in the next year -- the term set for reaching a peace agreement -- will have a material impact on the final agreement. Both sides say they want the negotiations to continue. So why might settlements kill the talks?

The main reason, in my view, is that the Obama administration has once again chosen to ask Netanyahu for an unnecessary concession -- and one he may be unable to deliver.

Netanyahu finds himself in a familiar bind. When he last led an Israeli government, in the late 1990s, he also came under crushing U.S. pressure to make concessions in an earlier round of peace talks. When he did so, his right-wing allies deserted him, while Israel's left-wing parties refused to support him. His government fell, and he lost the subsequent election.

The same fate could befall Netanyahu if he accepts Obama's offer. Right-wing parties in his coalition could turn against him -- and the largest center-left opposition party is signaling that it will not back up the prime minister even though it supports the settlement moratorium. So the prime minister is unlikely to accept the deal with the U.S. unless he can persuade his coalition partners to go along.

At the same time, Netanyahu knows that if he rejects the deal, he will anger Obama -- who hasn't shied from open confrontations with Israel over settlements. Obama isn't likely to turn on Netanyahu before the U.S. midterm elections; but a breakdown in the peace process could seriously complicate relations between the two countries next year, when Israel hopes the United States will act decisively to stop Iran's nuclear program.

Another U.S.-Israel crisis is probably what Abbas is hoping for -- and why he has taken a hard-line position on the settlement issue. The Palestinian president has engaged in negotiations with Israeli governments for years without demanding any such freeze. But he appears convinced that he cannot negotiate a deal with Netanyahu -- a conviction that was publicly articulated by one of his top aides, Yasser Abed Rabbo, in a radio interview Thursday.

Read the whole thing. Diehl has the question right. The question is how to get him to answer it (hint: The answer is "Rashid Khalidi").

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:31 PM