Susan Rice, Washington’s ambassador to the United Nations, held talks yesterday with senior Israeli officials in what appeared to be the latest bid by the Obama administration to end a months-long deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Ms Rice is also likely to have reiterated the US’s call for Israel to adopt a key recommendation of the UN-mandated Goldstone report to carry out a credible probe into possible war crimes committed by its troops in the attack in the Gaza Strip in December and January.
Ms Rice, who is attending an annual conference organised by Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, arrived in the region less than two weeks after George Mitchell, the top US envoy to the Middle East, wrapped up a visit in which he failed to reach a breakthrough.
The US ambassador met yesterday with Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, Avigdor Lieberman, the foreign minister, and Ehud Barak, the defence minister, in talks that were tersely described by a government spokesman as “good”.
In addition to the peace process, Ms Rice’s discussions with Israeli officials appeared to have also centred on Israel’s public relations battle to bury the Goldstone report, which had alleged Israeli war crimes during the 22-day assault that killed about 1,400 Palestinians.
Israel, fearing the report could prompt the possible prosecution of Israeli military and political figures for war crimes, has taken advantage of the arrival of foreign diplomats at this week’s conference in Jerusalem to step up a campaign against the document, which it has blasted as biased and one-sided.
Late on Tuesday, Ms Rice met with Mr Peres and indicated that the US would help its ally face off attempts to have the report referred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. She said Washington “will continue to stand by Israel as a loyal friend in the fight against the Goldstone report”, according to a statement issued yesterday by Mr Peres’s office.
Ms Rice, the statement said, also suggested the Obama administration will persist in trying to reignite the peace process despite hurdles on both sides by stressing that it remained “deeply committed … to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, including a two-state solution”.
The Goldstone report, however, has become the latest challenge to Washington’s peace efforts as it spurs rifts among both leaderships.
In Israel, the government appears increasingly split on the issue of whether to approve a new inquiry into the Gaza attacks. Yesterday, the divide seemed to deepen when Dan Meridor, the deputy prime minister, pushed the cabinet to call for a probe to avoid charges against the country’s leaders.
Mr Meridor, a lawyer, told Haaretz, a liberal Israeli newspaper: “A country that investigates itself puts up a roadblock to coming under [legal] assault. Today, with the development of international law, one of the best means of defence is for a state to investigate itself.”
The comments by Mr Meridor appeared aimed at mounting pressure on Mr Netanyahu to decide in favour of a probe. However, such a move is facing fierce opposition from Mr Barak. The defence minister, along with senior army officials, fears that an inquiry would take credibility away from the military’s own investigation into the attacks.
In the meantime, support for a new investigation is also rising among Israeli commentators. Dan Margalit, a prominent journalist, wrote yesterday in the right-leaning Yisrael Hayom newspaper: “The test is not whether or not Israel is right, but what benefit it can derive from its moves to block Goldstone’s malice … there is a rationale for establishing a committee to hold a detailed inquiry into the report’s findings and refute most of them.”
Israel’s focus on the report has shifted international attention away from the resistance of the country’s government, made mostly of hardline and pro-settler parties, to heed a US demand for a freeze of Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
But Mr Meridor, who is viewed as more left-leaning than most members of the governing coalition, appeared in the interview with Haaretz to urge Mr Netanyahu to make progress in peace talks. In comments that may stir further tensions among government ministers, he said: “I think it’s in Israel’s clear interest to make a very serious attempt, and also to take chances, to reach an agreement on resolving the conflict – one that would oblige us to make significant concessions on part of the land.”
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