Israel-Palestine negotiations test Obama
By Max J. Castro
According to reporting in the Washington Post, “Israeli officials have been stunned by the demands of top Obama officials that Israel halt settlement growth throughout the West bank” and have sent Defense Minister Ehud Barak to Washington bearing some compromise proposals.
Under international law, all of the settlements are illegal. Moreover, the U.S. road map for peace calls for a freeze in settlements. So, how come the Israelis are stunned?
The answer is that they had become accustomed to the laissez faire attitude of the Bush administration, under which “there was a secret agreement with Israeli governments” as a result of which the U.S. government “spoke publicly against settlement growth but tacitly accepted natural growth in settlements Israel intended to keep in a settlement with the Palestinians.”
The secret deal was typical of Bush’s policy vis-à-vis Israel/Palestine. Given such duplicity, it’s a miracle borne of necessity that the Palestinians still accept the United States as a mediator in the conflict. Especially since, in addition to the secret deal, in 2004 the Bush administration sent the Israeli government a letter concerning “facts on the ground” which essentially agreed Israel could keep major settlements under any peace deal. The Obama administration has stated it is not bound by the letter, which is contrary to international law.
Barak is the token dove in the hard-line Israeli government, and so he is being sent to Washington to probe the determination of the Obama administration, which so far has failed to budge. Obama, unlike Bush, appears to understand that the settlements are the core of the problem; the settlements must be dismantled, not expanded for there to be a viable two-state solution.The ferocity of the settlers, should they be forced to depart, should not be underestimated. According to the Post “in an apparent gesture to Obama, Netanyahu’s government has begun dismantling small settler outposts built without [Israeli] government authorization. But even that small step has triggered settler violence. Settlers have vowed to retaliate with attacks against Palestinians after removal of even the tiniest enclave — a tactic known as the “price tag.”
In effect, the settlers are giving any Israeli government so inclined a taste of what removing the settlements would cost. So far, as a result of the Israeli government’s miniscule gesture against outposts that are illegal even under Israeli law, settlers have, among other things, blocked highways, torched Palestinian land, and ambushed a minivan caring Palestinian workers, injuring six. The paper reports that “no arrests were made.” This outcome is typical: Israel deals with Palestinian violence with an iron fist but treats settler violence with a velvet glove.
It will be interesting to see how the intransigent government of Benjamin Netanyahu deals with the quiet but firm persistence of Barack Obama. The Bush administration was complicit with any and all Israeli actions, from the devastation of Lebanon to the carnage in Gaza. Now the Israelis are on notice that there is a new sheriff in town with a more evenhanded approach. They are stunned.
