Israel’s relations with the United States, its chief ally and patron, appeared this week to have entered a new era.
Israeli commentators yesterday said that Monday’s White House summit between Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and Barack Obama, the US president, further signalled that the US’s Middle East approach is significantly shifting from its years-long alignment with Israeli interests.
“This is a break from [former US president George W] Bush,” said Michael Warschawski, a founder of the Alternative Information Centre in Jerusalem. He added: “With Bush, there was total identification between US global policy and Israeli policy. Bush never criticised Israel. Now, Obama made it clear that the party is over.”
Indeed, Israeli analysts pointed out that Mr Obama on Monday indicated he would not adopt his predecessor’s tolerance for Jewish settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank – considered illegal under international law – and would push the hardline Israeli government to make progress on Palestinian statehood.
Furthermore, they said, Mr Obama appeared to reject Mr Netanyahu’s demand to place a short time frame for ending the US diplomatic bid to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, instead stating that his administration would review the results of its overtures at the end of the year.
Few doubt that the first sit-down between Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu since both leaders took power in their respective countries this year comes at an unusually delicate time for US-Israel relations.
Most members of Mr Netanyahu’s hawkish government reject the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel and support expanding settlements in the West Bank, territory the Palestinians view as part of their future state. Mr Netanyahu is understood to want to put off pursuing Palestinian statehood for now, and instead prioritise an effort with the United States and other western countries to stop Iran’s nuclear programme, which he views as an existential threat to Israel. The Israeli leader is also considering military action against Iran, an option that has encountered both private and public opposition from US officials.
Mr Obama, however, has made it clear he would vigorously pursue the two-state accord for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has suggested progress on Palestinian statehood could help rally support among Arab countries to deal with Iran.
However, it remains unclear whether Mr Obama’s shift from the approach of his predecessor would be enough to nudge the reluctant Mr Netanyahu towards the two-state solution.
After all, Mr Netanyahu’s refusal after Monday’s meeting to utter any support for Palestinian statehood – and only backing a limited form of Palestinian self-government – appeared aimed at averting a collapse of his right-wing coalition at home.
Indeed, Mr Netanyahu’s defiance of the idea that has long been a cornerstone of the international community’s Middle East policy drew applause from top members of his Likud Party yesterday.
Moshe Yaalon, a former army chief who serves as strategic affairs minister in the new government, conceded yesterday that there were “disagreements” between Israel and the United States, but insisted that an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank for the good of a Palestinian state would be a mistake.
Mr Yaalon told Israel Radio: “Whoever thinks that the problems start and end with the settlements saw what happened in Gaza when we uprooted the settlements … it only strengthened the Islamic jihad and the terror.” He referred to Israel’s 2005 pullout of civilians and soldiers from the Gaza Strip, which in 2007 was taken over by Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist militant group that has rejected western calls to recognise Israel. Mr Netanyahu and his allies have warned that Hamas, whose backers include Iran, would take control of the West Bank should Israel leave the territory under Palestinian rule.
Left-wing legislators in the opposition spared Mr Netanyahu no criticism yesterday.
Meir Sheetrit, a member of Kadima, a centrist partyx which pursued more than a year of unsuccessful US-backed talks with the Palestinians when it dominated the previous government, said Mr Netanyahu’s only achievement during his Washington visit was political survival. “Netanyahu did not agree to say that a Palestinian state would be established … creating a totally unnecessary confrontation and tension between us and the US.”
But a looming dispute with the United States does not appear to be the only risk of Mr Netanyahu’s approach. Analysts warned yesterday that prospects for the two-state solution were running out of time because the idea appeared to be losing credibility among both Israelis and Palestinians disillusioned by more than a decade of failed peace efforts.
Neve Gordon, a political science professor at Ben-Gurion University in southern Israel, said: “The real clock that is ticking is the one regarding the two-state solution, not Iran. Jewish settlements in the West Bank will be fortified, new outposts will be built and the possibility of a Palestinian state will evaporate.”
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