U.S. President Barack Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Wednesday.The Associated Press
There was an empty chair at lunch Wednesday in the White House. U.S. President Barack Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry were all there. But at the end of the President's 90-minute meeting with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader was not invited to join them.
There was a big disagreement between the two men over priorities. Mr. Netanyahu wants undivided U.S. attention paid to the issue of Iran and its nuclear program, while Mr. Obama wants Israel to focus on improving the situation with the Palestinians.
The President was probably pretty steamed. Just a few hours before the two leaders met, word came that Israeli authorities had approved yet another settlement development – this one for 2,600 homes on the southern outskirts of Jerusalem, just north of Bethlehem.
The community, to be built on land captured from the Jordanians in 1967, will further cut off the southern West Bank from the northern and isolate some Arab areas of east Jerusalem, making it nearly impossible for them to ever be united with a future Palestinian state.
The timing, just before the summit, appeared to be a slap in the U.S. face.
The two leaders made no comment to journalists after the meeting, but White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters the men had discussed the controversial issue.
He then had this to say on behalf of the President: "This development will only draw condemnation from the international community, distance Israel from even its closest allies, poison the atmosphere, not only with the Palestinians but also with the very Arab governments with which Prime Minister Netanyahu said he wanted to build relations."
Mr. Netanyahu rejected the harsh U.S. criticism. "I think [the Obama administration] should be acquainted with the facts first," he told NBC News. "First of all, these are not settlements. These are neighbourhoods of Jerusalem."
The fact is, the captured area was unilaterally annexed to the Israeli city of Jerusalem, a move not recognized by the international community.
The meeting ended with no lunch for the Israeli leader.
Frustrated that the Obama administration does not see things their way, both Mr. Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in recent days have steered a course away from U.S.-led direct peace talks and are seeking the help of larger groups to force or induce the other side to come to agreement on a future Palestinian state.
Mr. Abbas is taking his case to the UN Security Council where he is lobbying for a resolution that would set a deadline for Israel's withdrawal from Palestinian territories. France has said it would introduce such a resolution but it and the Palestinian Authority have yet to find the formula that would make it acceptable to the United States which, until now, has said it will veto it on Israel's behalf.
For his part, Mr. Netanyahu has appealed to the broader Arab world for support in bridging the gap between Israel and the Palestinians. In his speech Monday to the UN General Assembly, he said: "Many have long assumed that an Israeli-Palestinian peace can help facilitate a broader rapprochement between Israel and the Arab world. But these days I think it may work the other way around."
The Israeli leans heavily on the fact that several Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, the Gulf state and Egypt share Israel's concerns about Iran, and argues they all can build on that commonality to make great things happen in the region.
Peace with the Arab world? Sounds crazy, right?
Not entirely.
In March, 2002, the Arab League endorsed a Saudi proposal that would have had all Arab states sign a peace agreement with Israel and establish normal relations provided that Israel withdrew from the occupied Arab territories, accepted a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital and settled the issue of Palestinian refugees.
Israel largely ignored the offer.
True, the night before the Arab Peace Initiative (API) was published, a major suicide bombing was carried out by Hamas at a Passover Seder in Netanya, killing 30 people. The incident meant Israel took little note of the Arab initiative but raised the intensity of the campaign against Palestinian terror attacks instead.
The plan, however, was kept alive, mostly because of efforts by Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The only words heard coming from Israel have been criticisms, usually over the insistence on resolving the issue of Palestinian refugees.
There's no doubt there are some common interests between Israel and several Arab states especially over the matter of Iran. Many have had private meetings with the Jewish state over the years. But that doesn't mean they like to have the Israeli leader presume on these connections as amounting to budding relationships.
Lining up with Israel may well be conceivable, but not before the Arab public is prepared for the idea. And that will take time, unless there's a larger arrangement, one that includes something in return for the Arab states, something like a resolution to the question of Palestine.
And that's where the Arab initiative comes in.
Mr. Abbas, in his quest for UN help, acknowledged the API last week in his address to the General Assembly. And Saudi Arabia has reiterated that the initiative still is on the table waiting for Israel to take it up.
Mr. Netanyahu, however, continues to ignore it.