No agenda for Middle East peace

[Violet_Crumble]

Obama's meeting with Netanyahu didn't produce any momentum for future negotiations between Israel and Palestine

Richard Silverstein guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 19 May 2009 18.00 BST

Quite a disappointing first White House meeting between Bibi Netanyahu and Barack Obama. Each seemed to reiterate the standard rhetoric and pretty much talk past each other. There was one area, Iran, in which Obama seemed to move closer to the Israeli position.

The president seems to have adopted an articulation favoured by Iran envoy Dennis Ross and the Israelis, by which Iran will be given until the end of the year to accede to demands that it renounce its nuclear programme. If it does not do so, then in the next phase the US will advocate harsher penalties and sanctions. The final phase, of course, will be military action.

<snip>

But I cannot see any area in which Netanyahu reached out to the US position. He refused to use the phrase "two-state solution" and did not mention a Palestinian state as the goal of negotiations. Instead he said that peace talks would depend on Palestinian recognition of Israel's right to exist.

If you consider the fact that Bibi had previously withdrawn the demand for Palestinian recognition of a Jewish state, the fact that he's raised it anew cannot be seen as a good sign. This is Bibi the wooden, tin-eared ideologue, not the pragmatist who would endorse a two-state solution that Ehud Barak promised us a few days ago.

Obama did restate his support for a two-state solution and call for a settlement freeze. But there was absolutely no response from Bibi. It's as if the words were never spoken. This is the Israeli modus operandi. They hear the words they want to hear and disregard whatever is inconvenient.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/may/19/obama-netanyahu-israel-palestine

[Chulanowa]

1. But they only want peace, of course.

Well. This is who the Israelis elected. I think the message has been sent loud and clear.

[Violet_Crumble]

2. *Peace* is a pretty meaningless word in the hands of Nutty and his followers...

Anyway, I'm getting the feeling that Nutty's coalition isn't going to survive long. He'd be pissing off the members of the coalition who are even more RW than him by not laying down the law to Obama, and one would hope that no matter how pathetic Barak is, at some point he gets sick of being made a fool of by Nutty...