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US applies pressure test on settlements

27 March 2010 04:49 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. US President Barack Obama and his aides have cast the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a core US national security interest, APA reports quoting theage.com.au web-page.
General David Petraeus, the head of the military’s Central Command, put it starkly in recent testimony on Capitol Hill: ’’The conflict foments anti-American sentiment due to a perception of US favouritism towards Israel.’’
’’Anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US partnerships â€¦ and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world,’’ he told the Senate armed services committee.
His comments raised eyebrows in Washington - and overseas - because they suggested US military officials were embracing the idea that the failure to resolve the conflict had begun to imperil American lives.
Visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received warm applause at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) this week when he bluntly dismissed US demands to end housing construction in occupied East Jerusalem.
But the US administration has been strikingly muted in its reception of Mr Netanyahu. No reporters, or even photographers, were invited when he met Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice-President Joe Biden on Monday or when he met Mr Obama on Tuesday night.
The administration has pledged support for Israel’s security but has continued to criticise its settlement policies in tough terms.
Mrs Clinton did not pull her punches on the issue when she addressed AIPAC on Monday, warning that whether Israelis liked it or not, ’’the status quo’’ was not sustainable.
The editor-at-large of Beirut’s Daily Star, Rami Khouri, wrote this week: ’’Israeli policies have transcended personal affront or embarrassment to American officials and are causing the United States real pain beyond the Arab-Israeli arena.
’’At the same time Washington repeats its ironclad commitment to Israel’s basic security in its 1967 borders, suggesting that the US is finally clarifying that its support for Israel does not include unconditional support for Israel’s colonisation policies.’’
State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley spoke in clipped sentences on Tuesday when asked to describe the hours of private conversations with Mr Netanyahu: ’’We have outlined some concerns to the Israeli government. They have responded to our concerns. That conversation continues.’’
Mr Crowley said that the administration faced a series of ’’pass/fail’’ tests: Could it get the two parties to join direct talks? Could it persuade them to tackle the vexing issues surrounding the final status of Jerusalem? And ultimately, ’’Do we get to an agreement that is in the Israeli interest, in the Palestinian interest, in the interest of the rest of the region and clearly in the interest of the United States?’’
Arab leaders have long said that a peace deal would be possible if the US pressured Israel. But many experts say such hope is often misplaced.
In the case of East Jerusalem, Mr Netanyahu believes a halt to construction represents political suicide for his unstable coalition, in which the Interior Ministry, Foreign Ministry and Defence Ministry are headed by the leaders of rival parties.
Robert Malley, a peace negotiator in the Clinton administration, said: ’’US pressure can work, but it needs to be at the right time, on the right issue and in the right political context. The latest episode was an apt illustration. The administration is ready for a fight, but it realised the issue, timing and context were wrong.’’