On Monday, both President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will bring their respective plans for a two-state Mideast solution to the table – but the devil will be in the details.
Obama is pressing hard to quickly restart the Middle East peace process, placing his first call from the Oval Office to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in January. “Obama promised that he’ll continue efforts to push the peace process forward in order to arrive at a two-state solution,” the Palestinian Authority said in a statement after the conversation.
{mosads}Since assuming office, Obama has dispatched Special Envoy George Mitchell to make the rounds in the Middle East, and at the recent American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington Vice President Biden encouraged Israel to tear down settlements in the West Bank to move the peace process forward.
“You’re not going to like my saying this,” Biden said, “but [Israel should] not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts, and allow the Palestinians freedom of movement.”
But Netanyahu is keenly aware of the nuances of a two-state solution after being driven back into the prime minister’s post by an electorate that has felt the brunt of the rocket attacks that resulted from pulling out of the Gaza Strip and the subsequent disintegration of a Palestinian unity government.
To further complicate matters, Netanyahu’s ruling coalition includes the polar-opposite nationalists in the Yisrael Beiteinu party and liberals in the Labor party, plus members of his own Likud party adding to the voices in his ear.
Four members of the Labor party who objected to joining Netanyahu’s coalition sent the prime minister off to D.C. with a letter that read in part: “You must decide whether or not you have the courage to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the American president and leaders of the Arab world.”
Even Netanyahu’s Facebook page is brimming with advice about the Obama meeting posted by members of the social networking site. “Please do not agree to a 2-State solution,” read one comment Sunday. “We are American Israelis; 6 of our 9 children live in Israel. Allowing our enemies (the PLO-PA) to form a ‘country’ in such close proximity would put all of us in danger.”
Netanyahu favors a long-term two-state solution whereby the fragile Palestinian Authority would be strengthened through economic efforts to shore up the territories’ infrastructure and government.
After Obama’s election in November, the Palestinian Authority began advertising in Israeli newspapers in what it deemed an education campaign to encourage Israelis to support the Saudi two-state plan, also known as the Arab Peace Initiative, which would involve Israel relinquishing Judea, Samaria, the eastern half of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in exchange for recognition, plus releasing all Palestinian prisoners and offering resettlement within Israel for millions of Arabs.
{mosads}Despite the pressure to arrive at a Palestinian solution, though, Netanyahu will be more eager to discuss the Iranian nuclear threat. Even though the prime minister wasn’t talking en route to Washington on Sunday, Netanyahu’s national security adviser Uzi Arad confirmed that he will want to talk Tehran.
“The way things are planned, the focus of Netanyahu’s words will be the Iranian nuclear issue,” Arad said in remarks carried by the Jerusalem Post.
“This is clear not only because this is an existential issue as far as the security of Israel is concerned, but because Iran is progressing all the time toward nuclear military capability.”
But even this subject likely won’t find the two leaders on common ground.
While Obama is trying to extend diplomatic overtures to Iran, and has even expressed a willingness to let the Islamic Republic keep enriching uranium to get talks started, Israel has taken a hard line against Iran’s nuclear program and is keeping options for intervention on the table. The Times of London reported last week that CIA Director Leon Panetta journeyed to Israel two weeks ago to try to seek assurances that Israel would not strike at Iranian nuclear facilities without telling Washington first.
As Netanyahu and Obama meet for the first time as president and prime minister with equally burning agendas, the undercurrent of the talks may be quid pro quo.
“For Israel to get the kind of strong support it is looking for vis-a-vis Iran, it can’t stay on the sidelines with respect to the Palestinians and the peace efforts,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said last month.