ANALYSIS: MARK WEISS
ISRAELI prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu arrived in the US yesterday in fighting mood, rejecting the call by US president Barack Obama for Israel to withdraw to its 1967 borders.
Although there were elements of Obama’s Middle East policy speech on Thursday that were welcomed by Jerusalem – notably his rejection of a universal declaration of statehood by the Palestinians – his call for Israel to pull out of the West Bank, with agreed land swaps, prompted an immediate and unusually harsh Israeli rejection.
Netanyahu arrived in Washington yesterday at the start of a six-day visit, which, along with a White House meeting with the president, will also include an address before both houses of Congress and a speech to the annual convention of the pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC.
On arrival, Netanyahu said: “There are issues which simply cannot be swept under the rug.” He promised to explain these to the president. “Sometimes being right is also being smart, especially when it comes to core issues which are important to the Israeli consensus.”
He argued that a withdrawal to the 1967 borders would leave Israel with “indefensible” borders. “The viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of Israel’s existence,” he warned.
Washington has consistently opposed the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, which were captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six Day War. Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip in 2005, but the future of the West Bank remains the crux to solving the Middle East conflict.
Netanyahu has indicated support for the idea of a Palestinian state, but insists on three territorial conditions: that the main West Bank Jewish settlement blocs remain under Israeli control; that “greater Jerusalem” remains Israel’s indivisible capital, and that Israel maintains a military presence in the Jordan Valley, on the eastern border of the West Bank.
All three conditions are unacceptable to the Palestinians.
The maximum Netanyahu is willing to give the Palestinians still falls way short of what any Palestinian leadership could accept. This is the circle Obama must square if he is to clinch a historic Middle East peace deal.
There is little sign of optimism. The Palestinians broke off direct negotiations last September over Israeli settlement construction.
Obama’s predecessor, George W Bush, indicated in 2004 that Washington backed Israel’s demand to be enabled to annex the larger settlement blocs as part of an overall peace deal. There was no mention of this in Obama’s speech on Thursday – which also irked Israeli officials.
The peace process deadlock has left Israel increasingly isolated in the international arena. Netanyahu knows he can ill afford to lose the support of Israel’s most important ally, the US.
Defence minister Ehud Barak, a key coalition partner, warned Netanyahu that if he rejected Obama’s suggestions, Israel will be seen as rejecting peace. He urged the prime minister to present instead Israel’s position on the issues of settlement blocs, refugees and security.
Netanyahu will argue that a Palestinian government including Islamic group Hamas cannot be considered a genuine peace partner as long as it remains committed to Israel’s destruction.
Jerusalem knows that international endorsement of a unilateral declaration of statehood is a foregone conclusion if the Palestinians take the issue to the UN general assembly in September. However, without US backing, it remains unclear what difference such a move will make on the ground.