How Tense Was The Obama-Netanyahu Meeting?

How Tense Was The Obama-Netanyahu Meeting?

Nahum Barnea in Yediot Acharonoth:

The visits paid by Israeli premiers to the Oval Office are usually like class reunions....

Not last night. Obama and Netanyahu were as grim looking and formal as politicians can be. Maybe it's the situation: it's hard to tell jokes when the issue at hand is the Iranian threat. Maybe it's the desire shared by both of them to demonstrate seriousness. .......I don't know what Obama told his aides a moment after he parted ways with Netanyahu. Did he say to them: listen to me, there's a lot of justice to what that man just said and I believe him. Or, did he said: what a waste of time, that guy is only going to be trouble.

Netanyahu, ...failed to secure from Obama a commitment to an end date for those talks or, no less important, to the behavior that America will demand from Iran during the period of the talks. There isn't any deadline, Obama said publicly and privately. That said, he set a deadline of sorts when he said that towards the end of the year the administration would assess the progress that had been made...

He was encouraged by the emphasis that Obama placed on regional peace. Obama expects the Arab states to take steps towards normalizing relations with Israel in tandem with progress in the negotiations with the Palestinians roadblocks and discuss Jerusalem and the right of return with Abu Mazen....

In the real world, I'm afraid, that is a recipe for deadlock. The Saudis aren't going to sell us oil, the Kuwaitis aren't going to buy high-tech from us, and we will be liberated from the need to cope with the question of the territories. And we will continue to squabble with the US administration over the settlement issue.

Ben Caspit in Ma'ariv:

What happened there? Everything. There were those close to Netanyahu who promised him in recent weeks that Obama would not embarrass him in his first visit to Washington and would try to make light of their differences. Obama never heard that promise. He deluged Netanyahu with "two states" at least three times, he spoke about the road map, and even "Annapolis," thanks to Avigdor Lieberman, got mentioned twice. He spoke about freezing settlements, of past commitments of the sides and the need to treat them seriously, about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, about everything. There wasn't a single blister that Obama didn't step on, and it didn't seem to bother him. He left no stone unturned with Netanyahu sitting by his side and listening attentively......

Netanyahu can leave this first meeting with mixed feelings. Just like us. True, he was given a shower, but survived to talk about it...

Obama also said: I am confident that in time, in the coming weeks and months, we will make progress toward the goal (an independent Palestinian state). What he was saying was: no more procrastination. Days, weeks, months. Not years. Forget it, Bibi, we're not about to form work teams and quarrel for half a year over every outpost. ......

What does Netanyahu want? He wants the Americans to take care of Iran. He wants them to forget Israel's previous commitments. That they not annoy him with settlements. ...

That, it seems, it the gospel according to Netanyahu. To break everything and build anew. In Netanyahu's new process, you don't say two states, but you mean two states. You make the Arab states commit to normalization steps with Israel, you harness them to pull the cart out of the mud. And what does Israel do? Well, this is where Netanyahu gets a little stuck. He doesn't actually know what Israel does, or what makes him different from Olmert, Sharon, Barak, or even Tzippi Livni. After all, they all spoke loftily about a Palestinian state, but made no progress toward it, and earned cheers from the international community.

He doesn't talk about a Palestinian state, and he gets smacked on the head from the leader of the international community and it isn't entirely clear if the Palestinian state is not getting closer.

Posted by G, Z, & or B at 10:42 AM