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Netanyahu out to mend fences with US

Israeli-U.S. relations unclear
Washington (UPI) May 23, 2011 - With two high-profile speeches and a testy and embarrassing White House meeting behind them, U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's strained relationship has never been more public. Obama, speaking Sunday to 10,000 pro-Israel supporters at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual policy conference, asserted that any peace process between Israel and Palestinians hinges on 1967 borders with mutually agreed land swaps, a phrase he said was "misrepresented several times." "It is a well-known formula to all who have worked on this issue for a generation." Obama said. "It allows the parties themselves to account for the changes that have taken place over the last 44 years."

On Friday, Netanyahu characterized the 1967 borders as "indefensible" but, after Obama's AIPAC address, he pledged to work with the president to "find ways to resume the peace negotiations." Obama re-emphasized his belief that the status quo is unsustainable in the region, citing the growing Palestinian population in the West Bank and the tide of unrest sweeping the region. He also described the U.S.-Israeli relationship as "ironclad." Aaron David Miller, a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Middle East negotiator for Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, said he can't recall a more public disagreement between the nation's leaders.

"I understand Netanyahu is upset, I understand he was surprised. I think he [Netanyahu] took it too far," Miller said. Miller said former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin used to lecture President Jimmy Carter "but it was done privately." Israeli prime ministers sleep with one eye open, Miller said, because of the security threats and ingrained psyche of the country. He said Netanyahu "sleeps with two eyes open when it comes to Obama." "He does not trust the president," Miller said.

Their relationship started off in the fall of 2009 on a difficult note, with a showdown over Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank. Netanyahu prevailed. Miller said Obama's stance on Israel differs from Clinton and George W. Bush, who were "in love with the idea of Israel." Miller characterized Obama's recent public appearances as reminders that he cares about the peace process but the 1967 border issue, a long-held private negotiating chip, is now presidential policy. He said the two leaders have an understanding about some issues, like Iran but are still trying to find common ground on negotiating peace. "This is just Round 7 in a multi-round boxing match," Miller. U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., addressed AIPAC immediately before Obama and seemed to offer a much different stance than the president.

"Peace can only be achieved by a return to the negotiating table without preconditions," Hoyer said. Martin Indyk, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and vice president of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, said in a roundtable Sunday that Obama's remarks touched on a hot-button Israeli issue. Obama called on Hamas to denounce violence, recognize Israel and acknowledge all existing agreements. Indyk cautioned that Israeli supporters who wanted more specific policies from Obama about a peace deal should be concerned. "You sure wouldn't like what he would say about Jerusalem," Indyk said.

In remarks Monday, AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr said Netanyahu is "ready, willing and able" to start the peace process again. Kohr blamed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for bad decisions. "There is still time for a Palestinian leader to be bold and creative, to turn back from the current dead end, to reject Hamas, to reject the international path," he said.
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) May 23, 2011
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to address Washington's powerful pro-Israel lobby late Monday in a speech expected to try and mend fences with his American hosts.

Netanyahu comes into the meeting with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) following a tumultuous weekend in which he repeatedly clashed with US President Barack Obama over the schematics of a future Israel-Palestinian peace deal.

But with Obama standing firm and commentators saying Netanyahu had gone too far in antagonizing the US president, the Israeli premier planned to use the friendly AIPAC forum to try to resolve the differences.

"In his speech the prime minister is expected to emphasize the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel and the deep American commitment to Israel's security," his office said in a statement.

The clash came after Obama for the first time gave public voice to the long-held view of the US administration that a Palestinian state must be created based on the borders that existed before the 1967 Six Day War, with some adjustments so that Israel can maintain settlement blocs.

In a dramatic appearance on Friday, Netanyahu emphatically rejected this, choosing to interpret it as a call for Israel to withdraw to the actual 1967 frontier, which he called militarily "indefensible" before proceeding to lecture the American president in the Oval Office.

But when Obama stood firm despite Netanyahu's opposition and calls from Republican leaders to back away from the issue, Netanyahu changed his tone.

"Netanyahu understood that he had broken a rule that an Israeli leader must not break -- he had come between the two American parties in an election period," wrote Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer, two senior commentators in the Yediot Aharonot daily.

Since then Netanyahu has been trying to put a more positive spin on relations.

A meeting Monday with Vice President Joe Biden at the White House was described by Netanyahu's office as "warm and heartfelt."

Among the issues discussed were the "great similarities in the positions of Israel and the United States," the statement said without elaborating.

And Netanyahu was also expected to make a second conciliatory move when he addresses both houses of Congress on Tuesday, in a speech in which he plans to lay out the details of what he would be prepared to do to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians.

"Netanyahu is expected in his speech to address the recent changes in the Middle East and the Iranian threat. Also, he will speak about the principles for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians," his office said.

Obama supervised the relaunch of negotiations in September only to see them collapse within weeks when Netanyahu refused to renew a partial freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The Palestinians then refused to return to talks while Israel builds on land they want for their promised state.

A far-reaching Israeli initiative was seen as the only way of heading off a Palestinian attempt to unilaterally secure recognition of a state when the UN General Assembly meets in September.

But that was before Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas signed a surprise unity deal with the Islamist Hamas.

Since then Netanyahu has said there can be no negotiations with the Palestinians while Hamas, which is designated a terror group by Israel, the United States and the European Union, continues to call for the destruction of the Jewish state.

Still, Netanyahu faces strong calls to put forward an Israel peace plan in the face of mounting international support for recognizing a Palestinian state at the United Nations as a way to unblock the impasse in peace talks.

"We have to find a way to say 'yes, but,' Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday.

"Not to blur our objections or the importance we give to security considerations, but to find a way to move forward with the Americans, with the Europeans, with whatever is possible to block the diplomatic tsunami coming in September."



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