Israel's new Gamble

- By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

Israeli leaders, known for their double-speak, fraud as well as genocides in Palestine, still refuse to surrender the lands annexed form Palestinians. After meeting Jordan leader Abdullah recently, US President Barack Obama held talks with Israeli Prime Minister hawkish Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads a new right-leaning Israeli coalition with pro-settler parties at its core, in Washington last week and pressed the Israeli leadership to do enough on Palestine state issue without prolong the standoff. The US president has clearly committed to the dismantling of illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine. Netanyahu so far has refused to acknowledge past Israeli commitments to an independent Palestinian state, nor did he agree on illegal settlements in Palestine. Netanyahu represents a nation of Jews that seems disinclined to allow a Palestine state in return for peace and, hence, he has given no positive response to Obama's demand that Israel stop building or expanding settlements on land that Palestinians claim as part of a future state of their own.

Palestinians contend that expansion of settlements, deemed illegal by the World Court plus international community, are aimed at denying them a viable state. Israel says the Palestinian Authority has not done “enough” to rein in “militant” violence against Israeli state terrorism. A typical Jewish bluffer, Netanyahu has said he is ready to resume negotiations immediately but wants to exclude tough territorial issues. Obama said Palestinians had to do more to strengthen their security forces.

While Netanyahu's refusal to endorse a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict, long the cornerstone of U.S. policy, has added a new obstacle to Obama's diplomatic efforts, President Obama sees engagement in Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking as crucial to repairing America’s image in the Muslim world and drawing moderate Arab states into a united front against Iran, while Israel is also keen to jump into this scheme against Iran without permitting a Palestine state.

10 days after hosting Benjamin Netanyahu, who remains at odds with the U.S. administration over peacemaking strategy and faced with an Israeli rebuff of Washington's latest appeal to halt settlement building, President Obama on 28 May held talks with PLO chief Palestinian (Fatah) President Mahmoud Abbas. Obama ratcheted up pressure on Israel to freeze settlements as he sought to reassure visiting Abbas of U.S. support for Palestinian statehood. Seeking to revive stalled peace efforts, Obama made clear he would continue pushing Netanyahu to impose a total freeze on Jewish settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and embrace the goal of Palestinian statehood. "We can't continue the drift ... We need to get this thing back on track," Obama told reporters with Abbas, a Western-backed moderate weakened by infighting within PLO and Hamas Islamists' control of the Gaza Strip. Obama stressed that Israel's obligations under a 2003 Middle East peace "road map" include "stopping settlements ... and making sure that there is a viable Palestinian state." Abbas said there could be "no progress" unless final-status issues were discussed.

The White House meeting between the two leaders is part of an effort by the Obama administration to restart stalled peace talks. Obama has already met King Abdullah of Jordan and Netanyahu. Netanyahu's government spurned U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's blunt assertion that all settlement activity must stop, including the "natural growth" of existing enclaves that Netanyahu has vowed to continue. Obama's public reiteration of his view - a day after his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had laid it out only to have it shot down by the Israeli government - has raised eyebrows in Washington. Obama said he would talk about his ideas for Israeli-Palestinian peace in the June 4 address but brushed aside speculation that he would unveil a new peace initiative.

Obama also sought to shore up Abbas, who governs only in the West Bank while Hamas holds sway in Gaza.  Israel doesn’t seek any peace in the region because that would put it in a disadvantageous position vis-à-vis USA and hence tries all tricks to prolong the fight. Further underscoring the difficult path ahead, Israeli troops continue to kill top Hamas leaders and killed a fugitive leader of Hamas' military wing in the West Bank on 28 May.

US President said he was a "strong believer in a two-state solution" and believed Israel would recognize that it was in the best interests of its long-term security. He said it was important for all countries, but particularly Arab states, to be supportive of the two-state solution. Speaking after White House talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Obama again urged Israel to freeze settlement expansion. Abbas said the need for progress in the stalled process was urgent.

Abbas said that he had shared ideas with Obama based on the 2003 peace plan and the 2002 Saudi peace plan supported by the Arab league. Under the US-backed 2003 roadmap to peace, Israel is obliged to end all settlement activity, specifically including natural growth. The plan also requires the Palestinian Authority to crack down on militants who seek to defend themselves form Israeli attacks.  Abbas' visit could be a preview of what Obama can expect next week when he sees Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh and Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo and then delivers a speech to the Muslim world. Muslims will be looking for signs of how Obama will tackle the Arab-Israeli standoff. His predecessor, George W. Bush, was criticized for neglecting the decades-old conflict and most Muslims believed his policies were biased in favor of Israel.

Even as policy differences have exposed a rare U.S.-Israeli rift, it remains unclear how hard Obama is willing to push the Jewish state to make concessions when his administration has yet to complete its Middle East strategy. Obama signaled, however, that he hopes to work toward a broader peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. He plans to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on 4 June.  

Ahead of his visit to the Middle East next week, President Obama has put Netanyahu on notice that this White House has a firm agenda of its own. Obama said he had been "very clear" in his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister last week on the need to "stop settlements". 

Israel still thinks Iran issue could come to its rescue now and it could shelve the issues of Palestine state and Israel's illegal settlements indefinitely; after all, Tel-Aviv has continued the logic for decades now with all previous US presidents siding with Israeli aggressions and holocaust in Palestine, while calling the defenseless Palestinians as terrorists. Will that work hereafter?

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Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

Independent Researcher in World Affairs, The only Indian to have gone through entire India, a fraud and terror nation,
South Asia.