Friends tell friends when they're wrong, even when they don't want to hear it. That's what Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did Monday when she told the American pro-Israel lobby that perpetuating the status quo with the Palestinians does not serve Israel's long-term security or U.S. strategic interests, and that "unilateral statements and actions" such as announcing new settlement construction undermine prospects for peace. It's not easy for a U.S. administration to stand up to powerful lobbies, so Clinton deserves credit for her frank remarks.
Many backers of Israel view even the slightest U.S. reproof as a form of betrayal, and they are likely to have heard only Clinton's condemnation of Israeli actions in this speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington. But U.S. support of Israel is unbending. The country receives nearly $3 billion annually in military assistance to maintain its edge, Clinton noted, adding that "we firmly believe that when we strengthen Israel's security, we strengthen America's security." This is unchanged by her criticism, and only bolstered by her push for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
There are many obstacles in the path to peace, not the least of which is the hostility of the militant Islamic group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. But it was Israel's announcement of plans to build another 1,600 housing units on East Jerusalem lands captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War that has turned a spotlight on a problem of Israel's making -- continued settlement expansion. Most Israelis see East Jerusalem as part of their state, but the international community does not recognize the annexation of the territory, whose future is to be determined in peace negotiations. This was reiterated over the weekend when the "quartet" -- the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the United States -- condemned Israel's East Jerusalem plans and called for a negotiated agreement within 24 months to end the occupation of the Palestinian territories and create a viable Palestinian state "living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors."
Israel's dismay at the reproach is understandable. Most U.S. administrations have protested settlement construction and then sat by passively as Israel continued to build. The Obama administration appears to have internalized the message Army Gen. David H. Petraeus delivered last week: that two states are in the U.S. interest, and lack of progress not only fuels Arab anger with the United States but undermines our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now it is up to President Obama to drive that point home when he meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Tuesday. That's what honest friends do.
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