Obama continues to press Netanyahu
Jackson Diehl reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu's biggest problem continues to be Barack Obama.The president made his mind-set clear from the beginning of his administration, when he chose to begin his diplomacy by demanding a complete freeze on Israeli settlement activity — a condition Abbas had never set but which he quickly adopted as his own. In a meeting with American Jewish leaders at the White House this month, Obama indicated that he hadn’t changed his mind. Abbas, he insisted, was ready to establish a Palestinian state. The problem was that Israel had not made a serious territorial offer.Who cares about the coalition collapsing? If it collapsed over that kind of speech by Netanyahu, we would end up with an even more Right-wing coalition because Likud would lose votes to parties to its right. The bigger issue is that it's a stupid concession to make to buy off an anti-Semitic President (yes, I believe he's an anti-Semite - he would not have sat in Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years or hung around with Louis Farrakhan if he wasn't one) who will hopefully be voted out of office in 2012.
Netanyahu feels compelled to counter the Palestinian offensive at the United Nations, which his defense minister, Ehud Barak, says could turn into “an anti-Israeli diplomatic tsunami.” For that he will need the support of Obama. So Netanyahu has committed himself to deliver what could be the most-anticipated speech in Israel’s history — an address to the U.S. Congress in May in which he is to lay out a new “vision” for peace.
To satisfy Abbas and Obama, Netanyahu will have to promise a significant concession. In the words of the Israeli commentator Akiva Eldar, “he will have to utter, with his own mouth, the magic words” — that a Palestinian state will be based on Israel returning to its 1967 borders. But if he does that, Netanyahu will infuriate most of his cabinet and probably cause the collapse of his coalition. His supporters believe he will also give up Israel’s best negotiating chip — territory — before the real bargaining even begins.
Netanyahu felt comfortable enough with the Gaza mini-war and the state of security in Jerusalem last week to carry on with a planned trip to Russia. The coming showdown with Obama will require his full attention.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:32 PM
3 Comments:
Hi Carl.
As i have said for the last year Obama's aim is to have NATO (Turkish) Troops on the ground imposing new borders on Israel ,who in realty are nothing more than a giant Ghetto.
Yes i agree 100% with you for the same reasons he is an Anti Semite.
His hate for Israel is greater than the desire for peace in the Middle East.
I don't believe Netanyahu will make a concession opposed by most of his party unless the Palestinians give him what he wants - recognition of Israel as the Jewish State and an end to all further claims upon Israel.
Absent those concessions by the Palestinians, there's no chance Netanyahu will agree to a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines - no matter how much Obama might press him to do so.
He's not going to risk his coalition to make amends with Obama.
I happen to think that Netanyahu will bend to the will of the American president because his career was created by the same type of people who created Barak, and who created Obama - elitists who will forever demand obeisance to THEIR agenda.
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