It is sobering yet productive that three distinguished Israelis are generating ideas despite the unfortunate but realistic conclusion that “a comprehensive peace agreement is unattainable right now.”
Today, President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after weeks of speculation about how the two countries will address the threat of Iran potentially obtaining nuclear weapons, and with little expectation for progress on Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. However, the Iranian threat – coupled with the historic changes of governments across the Middle East – could actually serve as a strategic opportunity for these leaders to address Iran while advancing regional democratic efforts alongside Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Israel Policy Forum applauds President Barack Obama’s commitment to Israel’s security outlined in his address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Laura Rozen reported yesterday on a shift in the U.S. administration's statements on movements on the Israeli and Palestinian fronts toward renewing the peace process. She quotes Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns as saying:
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Connecticut
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - 4:59pm
President Obama’s moves on Israeli settlements seem a bit puzzling. For much of the year, the United States was pressing for a freeze. Then it seemed to let up a bit. At the United Nations on September 23, 2009, Obama called on the Palestinians “to end incitement against Israel.” But he did not call on Israel to freeze or end settlement expansion.
co-editor of bitterlemons.org; former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University
Monday, November 9, 2009 - 11:43am
The Obama administration tried to jump start the Israel-Arab peace process and inject new energy into additional areas of US activity in the Middle East by instituting a settlement freeze in the West Bank. Regardless of the words Obama's people have chosen to soften the impact, this initiative has failed. The immediate fallout is the apparent resignation of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and an inability to get final status negotiations moving again.
In the final stop on her visit to the Middle East and Pakistan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday. After commenting on her statement in Jerusalem over the weekend that the U.S. considered Israel's movement on settlements "unprecedented," she assured Arab leaders that the Obama administration is not reneging on demands to halt settlement building.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to Israel on Saturday night to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Barak and President Shimon Peres. This is her first official visit since Netanyahu took office.
In a speech delivered yesterday at Colby College in Maine, Special Envoy George Mitchell (a former senator from Maine) said that despite setbacks, the Obama administration is still deeply committed to peace negotiations for Israel and the Palestinians.
After a week during which numerous American officials were in Israel, George Mitchell insists that the US has made progress in its talks with Israelis and Arabs alike in an interview in today's New York Times. Mitchell disputes reports that Arab countries have rejected American requests for initial steps toward normalization with Israel and he challenges views that the Obama administration has only focused on Israeli actions as "completely inaccurate":
In a meeting about Iran's nuclear activity, Defense Minister Barak declared Israeli intentions to exercise all options possible when dealing with its security. This position differs from that of U.S. Defense Secretary Gates who is taking a softer line in an attempt to open up dialogue with Iranian leadership.
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Connecticut
Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - 1:09pm
In Aaron David Miller's "The Much Too Promised Land," he suggests that a U.S. secretary of state with the strong and clear backing of the president is successful at Arab-Israeli peacemaking. Take George H. W. Bush (41) and James Baker. In contrast, when participants can see gaps between the president and secretary a la George W. Bush (43) and Colin Powell, little progress happens.
