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Last update - 21:33 22/11/2009
Obama must deal with important questions of the Mideast conflict
By Zvi Bar'el
Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu 

For 41 years, Washington turned a blind eye. It protested a bit, scolded a bit, and mostly made do with periodically stating that its policy has not changed - it still opposes settlements in the territories and does not recognize the annexation of East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights. Suddenly, it gave us a resounding slap, but one of the frustrating kind that misses the cheek and flies through empty air. Because the American demand that we freeze construction in the settlements, that "strong message" containing a threat, has become a personal duel between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama, in place of a clear policy presented by the latter.

Obama will win, of course. He can set a meeting with Netanyahu late at night, not answer the prime minister's phone calls, warn him from the Great Wall of China and even order his officials to give Israel's requests the cold shoulder. Obama already has managed to garner international support for his demand that Israel freeze settlement construction, even in Jerusalem, and American public opinion is on his side. If Obama wants to undermine Israel's trust in the United States, or to prove to Netanyahu who is stronger, he does not have to work hard.

The American demand is proper, even if it is very late and unusually aggressive. However, its lack of context is infuriating. Freezing settlements is not a policy. Its entire purpose is to give Mahmoud Abbas, the resigning Palestinian Authority president, a reason to get back to negotiations. But negotiations cannot be a final goal, just as freezing settlements cannot be considered the ultimate achievement. What then? Is Abbas doomed to be a constant negotiator in endless negotiations? Does Washington have a plan for continuing negotiations?
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And let's say Israel does freeze construction. What is Washington's policy regarding the 300,000 settlers currently living in the territories, in settlements that no American president was determined enough to stop? If a plan to construct 900 housing units in Gilo bothers Obama, what does he think about the 40,000 Israelis already living there? What is the point in demanding a construction freeze if it does not involves a comprehensive plan that determines the borders between Israel and Palestine, and where Jews can or can't live? After all, that will be the next question in negotiations, to which end Obama has Netanyahu in a pincer grip.

Without a solid American diplomatic plan that will make Israelis, not Netanyahu, understand how to keep negotiations from bogging down a moment after Abbas and Netanyahu start talking; without a clear American position on the Palestinian right of return and the holy places, and whether Washington is for or against Palestinian reconciliation that brings Hamas into the government; the settlement freeze will become an unnecessary test of strength between Netanyahu and Obama. Because if the American president takes the trouble to look into one illegal building in East Jerusalem, and rightly so, he cannot in the same breath say that the really important questions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are none of his business.

Washington can no longer call itself an indifferent mediator who gives the parties the White House phone number and asks that they call when they are ready, as secretary of state James Baker did when George H.W. Bush was president. Washington is a stakeholder, and peace in the Middle East is its strategic interest. As such, it cannot present freezing settlements as a personal power play, an ego contest, insulted that its client state is disobedient.

It is increasingly seeming that the demand for a settlement freeze is no more than a desire to chalk up some sort of achievement, one that does not change the status quo but does grant prestige. That suspicion is based on the fact that the United States has had nothing to say about the Israeli-Syrian conflict. If peace in the Middle East is so important, why is Washington not speaking out about the settlements in the Golan Heights? Why does the United States not call a Syrian-Israeli summit? Are negotiations with Syrian President Bashar Assad less important than those with Abbas? The Arab peace initiative, it should be noted, involves Israeli withdrawal from all the territories.

The freeze in settlement construction is an essential step in a meaningful peace plan. Standing alone, it is a hollow gesture.
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  1.   absolutely right! obama needs to petition the unsc for sanctions 03:59  |  eric 22/11/09
  2.   Zvi, sadly you are correct, but only superficially... 04:44  |  BBSNews 22/11/09
  3.   Leave the Settlers Be 05:07  |  Mark of Lewiston 22/11/09
  4.   Interesting article but .... 05:23  |  One 22/11/09
  5.   Obama is following the Roadmap and modified Saudi Plan 05:31  |  Bloodyscot 22/11/09
  6.   Mark of Lewiston, one more thing... 06:18  |  BBSNews 22/11/09
  7.   It`s pretty simple, actually 06:39  |  Johnboy 22/11/09
  8.   Absolutely Correct - Stop Settlements 07:09  |  Vladek 22/11/09
  9.   The 100%ers are dreaming 07:11  |  Reid 22/11/09
  10.   #4 I`m one with you... 08:20  |  kiwi girl 22/11/09
  11.   solution 08:41  |  Rick 22/11/09
  12.   Support Israel once and for all 09:24  |  Chaim Ben Kahan 22/11/09
  13.   Obama 09:52  |  Iletzter 22/11/09
  14.   #3, Mark, stop inciting to war 10:03  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 22/11/09
  15.   Obama already said 10:13  |  Gilles 22/11/09
  16.   Not a question of "where Jews can or can`t live" 10:22  |  Esther 22/11/09
  17.   Bartel wants full-time involvement of Obama in Israel affairs... 10:38  |  Esther 22/11/09
  18.   Obama 10:58  |  Wizardman 22/11/09
  19.   Syria 11:04  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 22/11/09
  20.   #10 You have got to be kidding, Cipora 11:06  |  Johnboy 22/11/09
  21.   10 Cipora - Reread, No Incitement 11:27  |  Mark of Lewiston 22/11/09
  22.   Logical article. 11:31  |  sandra chitayat 22/11/09
  23.   #16, JB, forget about unilateral moves 11:47  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 22/11/09
  24.   #17, Mark 12:00  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 22/11/09
  25.   Mark Lewistone vs Cipora 12:12  |  arik 22/11/09
  26.   Wizardman BRAVO!!! 14:10  |  Petra 22/11/09
  27.   Esther and stop all US $$ to the pals. 14:15  |  Petra 22/11/09
  28.   Building took all of the cards off the table. The pals lost it al 14:21  |  Petra 22/11/09
  29.   Petra with a stone-heart 14:42  |  John Spear 22/11/09
  30.   esther and the world of erewhon writes incessant bilge 15:06  |  v hardman 22/11/09
  31.   Petra- Help me Understand Your Point 15:59  |  Stephen 22/11/09
  32.   Settlements. Should be allowed to carry on thier natural Growth. 16:16  |  Hamdanni 22/11/09
  33.   #32 hamdanni and how to mislead yourself and others 16:34  |  vhardman 22/11/09
  34.   Obama`s test - proof of intentions 16:57  |  r cummings 22/11/09
  35.   Obama/Freeze 17:16  |  dee 22/11/09
  36.   40,000 Israelis living in Giloh 17:19  |  Yonatan 22/11/09
  37.   It`s not complicated 18:04  |  Natallie Durson 22/11/09
  38.   #31 Stephen 18:08  |  arik 22/11/09
  39.   not so 18:15  |  Maya 22/11/09
  40.   Wizardman and Petra 19:10  |  One 22/11/09
  41.   The settlers must live in Palestine 19:12  |  Fritz T. 22/11/09
  42.   It Just Comes Down To This... 19:12  |  Yosemite 22/11/09
  43.   Israel has stopped most Muslim "Natural Growth" yet it complains 19:45  |  Bloodyscot 22/11/09
  44.   Eric #1 - (2nd try) 20:39  |  S 22/11/09
  45.   Bloodyscott, cucko 20:48  |  SDHD 22/11/09
  46.   Obama is hardly interested in the conflicts of the ME 20:49  |  Kris Lazar 22/11/09
  47.   Illegal settlements must be removed, not just halted 21:54  |  jens 22/11/09
  48.   The "Settlements" are a Red Herring 23:27  |  Alan-NYC 22/11/09
  49.   obama must deal with...... 23:34  |  sjoerd van der velde 22/11/09
  50.   the proof that you don`t understand.... 23:37  |  Mike 22/11/09
  51.   obama must deal.... 23:42  |  sjoerd van der velde 22/11/09
  52.   Until he talks pocketbook 01:48  |  julie 23/11/09
  53.   #44 "S"-or about 1/2 the number displaced in `48; & again in `67 02:05  |  eric 23/11/09
  54.   Good Article 02:10  |  Marco 23/11/09
  55.   Settlements Threat to Peace 02:12  |  Vladek 23/11/09
  56.   Mark of Lewiston: Re Settlers 04:00  |  Nose knows 23/11/09
  57.   Vladek: back to the 67 borders 04:05  |  Nose knows 23/11/09
  58.   51 Nose - You Ain`t No Shadow 06:18  |  Mark of Lewiston 23/11/09
  59.   Continue on 06:40  |  Josh 23/11/09
  60.   Obama and Netanyahu...or any Israeli envoy 09:04  |  harvey 23/11/09
  61.   eric $ 48 I agree with most you wrote here, but still,... 10:16  |  S 23/11/09
  62.   settlers,etc 11:52  |  erben 23/11/09
  63.   Self reliance 12:03  |  Sajid Syed 23/11/09
  64.   20~ Johnboy correction ... 13:43  |  Akram Zekaria 23/11/09
  65.   Isreali honesty 23:25  |  american observer 23/11/09
  66.   #18 Wizardman#26 Petra. Obama`s successor 03:13  |  Ron 24/11/09
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