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In anticipation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit with President Obama next week, senior White House officials said the meeting will focus on broad topics relating to an ultimate Middle East peace plan, rather than specific issues that continue to vex Israeli-Palestinian relations.
In a conference call with reporters this afternoon, Daniel Shapiro, senior director for the Middle East and North Africa, and Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said that the meeting Tuesday will be geared toward furthering indirect negotiations, known as proximity talks, currently in progress between Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the U.S. special envoy to the region, George Mitchell.
The Palestinian Authority has said it will not engage in direct talks until Israel completely ceases building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Mitchell recently returned from his fifth round of talks, which began in May of this year.
A current freeze on new settlements is set to expire in September, but Rhodes said that while the moratorium has been "quite significant and contributed to progress so far," its expiration will not be discussed in Tuesday's meeting.
Shapiro added that the meeting will focus on "capitalizing on the momentum through proximity talks to continue to move forward and reach direct negotiations," adding that the administration views proximity talks only as a mechanism to get to direct negotiations.
The officials cited several recent policy changes that they say indicates movement towards face-to-face talks.
Shapiro praised Netanyahu's recent announcement that he would loosen restrictions on trade between the Israel-Gaza border. Israel issued a blockade on the region three years ago after the Islamist organization Hamas, which Israel considers a terrorist regime, took over the strip of land, but the restrictions, meant to prevent Hamas from getting weapons, also limited the amount of food and construction supplies making its way into the region.
Netanyahu's loosening of the blockade came a few weeks after a violent incident in which 19 people were killed on a Turkish flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the region. That sparked a new round of international pressure to allow more basic products into Gaza.
"The president welcomed those changes which we think are already making a significant difference in the lives of the people on the ground in Gaza," Shapiro said, adding that the announcement helped to "address what has been an unsustainable situation" for Gazan civilians.
The officials also touted the most recent round of U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran, as well as Obama's signing of the Iran Sanctions Act, which the president said would "strik[e] at the heart of the Iranian government’s ability to fund and develop its nuclear programs."
While the officials said they were nearing ever-closer to reaching direct negotiations, they demurred on specifying a timeline, saying only that it would be "premature to speculate" on details of the discussions.
The officials also shot down any talk of a "rift" between Israel and the United States, citing support of its "qualitative military edge," as well as its funding of the Iron Dome missle defense program, as evidence of a "deepening of cooperation," according to Rhodes.
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Israel needs to remember that they have all those means of defending themselves because of the US.
They don't want to allow aid in to Gaza, because offensive weapons could be snuck in. How would they have liked it if Syria, Egypt and others would have blockaded all those US arms and nukes that WE brought THEM? Double standard, anyone?
Right on Drive-by:
As I read this post, I say to myself, what a bunch of crap. I don't believe for a second that they will avoid specifics, the settlements, the threat of Iran, the blockage of Gaza. Why even meet if they avoid specifics? The talks may not accomplish much, but by now Netanyahu knows there's a new sheriff in town. His name is President Barack Obama.
I just hope people don't see my comment as anti-Jewish. I think they are as good as any people on Earth, and have as much right to their beliefs and peaceful lives as anyone. I do not condone what happened throughout the Holocaust- it was humanity at it's worst.
Having said that, I just can't see how having your land given to foreigners by foreigners is right, either. Yes, I hear over an over "but Israel won some of that land in the '67 war". I guess by that reasoning, WE should have some additonal, united, states over in Germany and Japan, too. I know you've seen me post it before, but- I don't think the terrorists are trying to harm us because of our freedoms. I think it's a lot bigger than that.
And, I know it's early, but- Happy 4th, and.......GO COLTS!
All the meeting will do is paper over the differences between Israel and the U.S., not accomplish justice for the Palestinians. Until the U.S. actually becomes honest brokers in the ME, our vital interests as well as our moral leadership is in trouble. The rest of the world is inching forward, but unfortunately it usually yields to the U.S. on this issue. Eeven the American people are gradually getting it, that our uncritical support of Israel is an albatross that's dragging us down in they eyes of the rest pf the world.
Israel needs to get over it's "But He Hit Me BACK First!" mentality. Yes, they obviously have to be able to defend themselves, but who is actually defending the Palestinians? Considering the way that Israel was founded in the first place, with terrorism and land grabs from back before the British even allowed them a space as a county, is it any wonder that those same methods came back to haunt them later, from the very people that they used them on?? I do not say it is right, just point out the dichotomy of the situation.
The strength behind the extreme right wing party in power now in Israel depend upon having a violent opponent that they can brand as the "Evil Terrorist Attackers That Want to Destroy Us Forever." They impose a sense of fear upon their own populace, and make conditions so harsh on the Palestinians that it is No Wonder that they rebel and act in violent ways and have Their rhetoric mirroring the Israeli's, "They Drove Us From OUR Lands and Are Trying to Destroy Us So We HAVE to Fight Back!"
Israel needs to back up and look at it's own behavior in the light of the World's view of them, their trespasses against the UN dictates that formed their Nation in the first place. All of the Illegal Settlements, condemned by the UN for Decades, and East Jerusalem MUST be given back to the Palestinians, Intact, none of the buildings defaced or demolished, if they are good enough for the Israeli's it is good enough for the Palestinians. Also, in any of the areas where the wall passes over the 1967 demarcation line, that wall will need to be removed, around East Jerusalem they depart wildly from the Demarcation line, in an obvious attempt at Land Grabbing, it is happening and MUST be stopped and set back into the hands of the Palestinians. Any of the residents who demand to stay will have to agree that they are now Palestinian Citizens under Palestinian Laws and give up their right to Israeli citizenship.
The embargo against the Gaza Strip must Cease, I can see an International group, led by the UN screening cargo at the docks, or before a ship actually docks, to make sure that weapons, and weapons only are not shipped into the area. A Palestinian Only, Direct Route freeway must be allowed to connect the Gaza Strip with the West Bank, this must also be completely under the Palestinian Control, and not subject to blockades of any sort from Israel. Bridges or tunnels must be allowed for the Israeli's to travel freely in Israel across the Palestinian Controlled Freeway Zone, however during construction, care must be taken to in no way impede the traffic flow.
Israel must completely leave the West Bank and the Gaza, and ANY other lands which the UN Governing Body feels is needed to ensure that the Palestinians have a secure enough environment for their OWN security and survival. Just as Israel should, and will, survive, the Palestinian State should be allowed to survive and thrive as well, and Israel has no right to be meddling with it anymore.
If Israel REALLY wants Peace, then these things need to be done, and Israel needs to concede these conditions even though it will mean half-a-million of their own people will be extremely angry, those people were lied to and given false assurances long ago, and in most cases, know that their settlements really ARE illegal and an actual aggression upon the Palestinians as it is slowly but surely taking their best and most productive or most scenic/historical lands, and yes, they are angry about it, with every right to be. So while the Palestinians need to reign in their militant factions, giving the Palestinians the ACTUAL and UNABRIDGED Right to be their own Nation, and staying out of the way and Letting them do it will help to relieve the reasons for conflict in the first place.
Yes, the Israeli's have been attacked, however, their assaults with a fully modern Army and high tech weaponry against light arms and what very little WWII level tech they have smuggled in or made, is like swatting a fly with a sledgehammer, and it is mostly Civilians that are the casualties in those conflicts, usually at the rate of 100 Palestinians to 1 Israeli (Look up the stats from those conflicts.) In the war against Lebanon, the Israeli's aimed at the infrastructure of the cities and ports, power stations etc, crippling the Civilian ability to care for it's people, because they were not able to make any advance on the ground, even with their might, so they concentrated on CIVILIAN sites because they were losing, and they knew it.
Israel's people need to take a long hard look at how their leaders have been keeping the pot boiling with regards to the Palestinian Problem and force them to deal FAIRLY and APPROPRIATELY with the Palestinians. Peace will not happen until then, until the party deriving it's power from the conflict is removed from positions of ANY power. Look at WHO is enriching themselves with Land at the expense of the Palestinians. And Act, Please, for the good of Israel, the Palestinians and the Rest of the World, who could no longer point to Israel and say, "Well, They break the Rules all the time, besides, they have Nukes too, why should we follow the rules since they don't and why should we not have Nukes too, to defend against them if needed, they have PROVEN themselves to be violent and have made Surprise attacks before??"
Logic and Commons Sense MUST Prevail here and changes must come from the People if Peace is to Prevail!
Obama ought to kick Netanyahu's butt. Yes, Israel is our ally and the best ally we have in the Middle East but that doesn't mean they can do as they please. Perhaps we would have a lot less trouble from the Arabs if we admonished Israel for expanding into Gaza.
Ali Weinberg is trying to spin the meeting before it occurs, lowering expectations. Obama will demand Netanyahu and Israel quit endangering American troops with their attacks on innocent Gazans and Turks. Obama is also going to demand Israel accept the international investigation and the apology and compensation to the Turkish families killed by the Israelis. Israel's pirate attack on an unarmed Turkish vessel in international waters and the cold blooded murders of Turks is not going to go unpunished not matter how much Israelis try and spin.