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November 2, 2009 at 7:35 am (Corrupt Politics, Israel, Palestine, Peace Process)
Photo: AP
Netanyahu Scores Victory as US Abandons All Settlement Demands
Peace Process Likely Dead After Clinton Touts Israel’s Commitment
In May, the Obama Administration was pointedly demanding that the Israeli government abandon all construction in all of its settlements, insisting that no exceptions could be tolerated and the move was a must for peace.
It took less than six months for that position to be abandoned in its entirety. The hawkish Netanyahu government is now relishing a major victory over the US as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Israel, which has angrily rejected those demands, for their commitment to the peace process.
It seems that President Obama’s ambition for Palestinian statehood has given way, in the face of furious anti-Obama protests across Israel, to a 180 degree turn back to the unquestioningly pro-Israel position of the past several US presidents.
Now the Palestinian Authority, once eagerly praising the Obama Administration for pressing Israel, says that Clinton is actually undermining efforts to resume the stalled talks. Since Israel has repeatly ruled out any peace talks with the PA in recent weeks, there wasn’t much to undermine, but their frustration is clear.
Clinton Counters Arab Anger over Israeli Settlements
02/11/2009 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday called on Israel to make greater efforts to ease tensions with Palestinians and said the United States still opposes new settlements in the West Bank.
The top US diplomat, who is on a tour to re-launch Middle East peace talks, praised efforts by Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas to improve security and said Israel must reciprocate.
The United States had urged a total halt to new Israeli construction in the West Bank as a precursor to new negotiations, but on Saturday Clinton said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer to restrict new building was "unprecedented".
Clinton said Monday that Netanyahu's offer "falls far short of our preferences" but was still worth seizing. "If it is acted upon it will be an unprecedented restriction on settlements and will have a significant and meaningful effect on restraining their growth," Clinton said ahead of an international conference of Arab foreign ministers in Marrakech, Morocco.
"The Obama administration's position on settlements is clear and unequivocal. It has not changed. The US does not accept the legitimacy of continuing Israeli settlements."
Clinton said she has pressured Israel to do "much more" to reciprocate measures taken by the Palestinians to improve security. "I told Prime Minister Netanyahu that these positive steps on the part of the Palestinians should be met by positive steps from Israel on movements, access ... and Israeli security arrangements in the West Bank," she said.
"Israel has done a few things in that regard but they need to do much more," Clinton said. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas "has shown leadership and determination" regarding concerns over security, she said, "and Israel should reciprocate."
"She took sides on settlements" and appeared to "'praise' Israel and Bibi."
"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's message on Israel-Palestinian peace talks this weekend was not notably different than what President Barack Obama himself said in New York in September at a meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. But the prevailing perception and coverage in the wake of Clinton's meetings in Israel and Abu Dhabi Saturday is that the U.S. has once again returned to its traditional default position of tolerating Israeli unwillingness to abide by demands for a total settlement freeze and once again decided that the way forward is to pressure the Palestinians to cave.
While U.S. officials on Sunday pushed back forcefully on the veracity of that impression, news headlines have been uniformly grim in the region since Clinton appeared at a news conference in Jerusalem with a confident-looking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu....
As Clinton prepares to meet with Arab foreign ministers in Marrakesh Monday night, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, looks weaker than ever, going into the elections he has called to be held in January. U.S. officials say Clinton will urge Arab leaders with whom she is meeting to support Abu Mazen, as he is known, saying he is the only viable option for achieving the creation of a Palestinian state.
But Abbas told Clinton at their meeting that he has been badly hurt by what appears to be a U.S. flip flop on the settlements freeze issue as well as an earlier decision he made apparently in consultation with moderate Arab regimes as well as Washington to refrain from demanding further United Nations action on a recent report by a commission headed by Richard Goldstone ........"I fear her trip to Israel may be the final nail" in the coffin for the Obama administration's efforts to pursue Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, one Washington Middle East hand said on condition of anonymity Sunday.
Clinton "went beyond Obama's talking points in New York City," he said. "She took sides on settlements" and appeared to "'praise' Israel and Bibi.".... "I think [they are] in over their head and there is no strong, capable person navigating this ship. It all seems unprofessional, a policy drifting in different directions. ...
But the impression that the Obama administration now sides with Israel in asking the Palestinians to enter into talks with something less than a settlement freeze to test whether Netanyahu's offer is genuine contributes to Abbas' perceived weakness...."
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