Israel rejects U.S. plan for Palestinian state

[Scurrilous]

Source: Miami Herald

<snip>

"In a direct challenge to President Barack Obama's commitment to rejuvenate moribund Mideast peace talks, Israel on Thursday dismissed American-led efforts to establish a Palestinian state and laid out new conditions for renewed negotiations.

Leaders of Israel's hawkish new government told former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, the special U.S. envoy, that they aren't going to rush into peace talks with their Palestinian neighbors.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would require Palestinians to accept Israel as a Jewish state in any future negotiations - a demand that Palestinians have up to now rejected, Israeli government officials said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Obama's envoy that past Israeli concessions led to war, not peace.

These were Mitchell's first meetings with Israeli leaders since Netanyahu's center-right government took power two weeks ago."

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1003471.html

---

Emanuel Says Obama Insists On Implementing Two State Solution, No Ifs, Ands, or Buts

<snip>

"Yedioth Achronoth, the largest circulation daily in Israel, reports today that President Obama intends to see the two-state solution signed, sealed and delivered during his first term.

Rahm Emanuel told an (unnamed) Jewish leader; "In the next four years there is going to be a permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it doesn't matter to us at all who is prime minister."

He also said that the United States will exert pressure to see that deal is put into place."Any treatment of the Iranian nuclear problem will be contingent upon progress in the negotiations and an Israeli withdrawal from West Bank territory," the paper reports Emanuel as saying. In other words, US sympathy for Israel's position vis a vis Iran depends on Israel's willingness to live up to its commitment to get out of the West Bank and permit the establishment of a Palestinian state there, in Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

Yedioth also reports that Obama is conveying his displeasure with the new Israeli government in several ways. "US administration officials informed Netanyahu that President Obama will not be able to meet with him in early May, while the AIPAC conference is held in Washington. The meeting between the new Israeli premier and the president of the United States is perceived in Israel as a sign that the formation process of the new government has been completed and as a salutation by Israel's close friend. Netanyahu had hoped to capitalize on the opportunity and to meet with Obama during the annual AIPAC conference, but the Americans informed the Israelis that Obama was not going to be 'in town.' That being the case, the inclination among Netanyahu's aides is to cancel his trip to attend the AIPAC conference and to try to secure a date for a meeting with Obama later in May.

"Sources in Washington also said that the Obama administration would not continue the tradition that developed during the Bush administration of hosting Israeli premiers many times during the year, sometimes with just a phone call's advance notice."

http://www.israelpolicyforum.org/blog/emanuel-says-obama-insists-implementing-two-state-solution-no-ifs-ands-or-buts

[polichick]

1. Can we keep all that aid money now? We've got people who need it here.

[subsuelo]

2. are you saying our needs take priority over slaughtering Palestinians?

[polichick]

3. I know - counterintuitive, huh? :)

[cali]

20. that's just the kind of comment that get I/P posts sent to I/P

it would be good if people showed a little restraint on I/P threads here and in GD. But I supppose asking for that will get an indignant response about "truth" telling.

[UndertheOcean]

4. Yes we can ... unless AIPAC really has congress by the balls

[L0oniX]

16. AIPAC litterally teabags congress.

[Idealism]

5. Both sides need to see peace as a common good first before there can be any negotiations.

[closeupready]

7. Since Israelis are winning, why would they want to change the rules now?

??

[Idealism]

8. Lets not pretend as though Hamas has no purpose for war, as well.

[closeupready]

12. The reality is territory is being absorbed de facto by Israel.

One side wins and one side loses, and Israel is winning.

[classysassy]

24. If

Israel were to remove their troops,Hamas would not have a reason to exist.

[Idealism]

25. A new nationalist group would take their place, Hamas is just a name...

The Taliban is a nationalist group, and until there is a Pashtunistan formed in the region, the Taliban will have plenty of supporters for their mission. Same with Hamas. You may withdraw the troops, but without statehood there will always be resistance.

[Double T]

6. Simple solution. Accept the proposal OR the funding stops at midnight TONIGHT!

Problem solved.

[Zavulon]

9. I'm at the point where I have a simpler solution...stop the funding ASAP

and let both sides slug it out. An earlier post correctly states that both sides need to WANT peace for this to work, and neither side seems to. Like millions of Americans, I think it's time to let them handle it themselves.

I remember following Clinton's attempts to bring peace to the region in 1993. If it were possible, Clinton would have done it. He couldn't, the Shrub couldn't, and Obama can't, because peace is not the desired outcome over there - it only is over here. I want the aid to both sides stopped immediately. They've both had enough drama queen time - maybe the only way to get them to want peace is if they get the idea that we're tired of this shit.

[Double T]

10. If anyone can do it, HRC will do it.

I agree with YOU; I don't even think the GREAT SPIRIT can pull this one off.

[Zavulon]

13. Thanks.

I hate to think I'm right on this, but I'm sure I am.

I don't think Hillary can do it - I know I'll get flamed for saying so, but I haven't been impressed by her as SecState job so far (for one thing, what some here write off as insignificant little gaffes are anything but at the highest diplomatic levels). Bill would be a good choice to try again because he's come as close as anyone has, Jimmy Carter would be a valuable person to consult as well.

Still, Jimmy and Bill together still wouldn't be enough. I'm convinced that the only way to do it is to deprive both sides of funding AND attention. If you want two little hell-on-wheel kids to behave, stop both their allowance and running up to them when they cry and scream (maybe not the best analogy, but the approach hasn't been tried and I see none better).

[hack89]

19. Stop the funding to both sides? nt

[yurbud]

11. Obama should forget to sign their next military welfare check.

[IndianaGreen]

14. I believe the current rightwing Israeli government is underestimating Obama

much as their spiritual twins in the American GOP have.

[MasonJar]

15. No more money to Israel. It can be put to better use at home and

in arts olf the world which are truly needy.

[Johnyawl]

17. This helps the President...

..."Rahm Emanuel told an (unnamed) Jewish leader; "In the next four years there is going to be a permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians on the basis of two states for two peoples, and it doesn't matter to us at all who is prime minister."

Having Rahm Emanuel to be the hard-ass point man on this issue will be of great value. Rahm's pro-Israeli credentials are unimpeachable, it's gonna be very difficult for AIPAC to smear him, either here or in Israel.

from Rahm's Wikipedia entry:

His father, Benjamin M. Emanuel, a Jerusalem-born pediatrician, was a member of the Irgun.

Emanuel's first name, Rahm (רם) means "high" or "lofty" in Hebrew, and is the namesake of one Rahamim (surname unknown), which means "mercy" in Hebrew, killed in the 1940s fighting for the Zionist group Lehi.<8><9> The surname Emanuel (עמנואל), adopted by the family in honor of his father's brother Emanuel Auerbach, killed in Jerusalem during a skirmish with Arabs,

Emanuel ...was a civilian volunteer assisting the Israel Defense Forces for a short time during the 1991 Gulf War, repairing truck brakes in one of Israel's northern bases with Sar-El

[HamdenRice]

18. Fascinating analysis of Mitchell/Clinton's ju jitsu strategy on Israel/Palestine

I'm not really worried about what the government in Israel says right now, if this analysis is correct. I heard it on either NPR or Pacifica a few days ago.

Mitchell and Clinton plan to use the same strategy that Mitchell used in Northern Ireland. The problem was that both sides leaders were intransigent. There seemed to be nothing to negotiate between Catholic and Protestant "leaders."

So instead, Mitchell played ju jitsu and went behind their backs, slowly building support among their constituents for a peace plan. Instead of talking to leaders, he talked to women's groups, religious organizations, community groups, and so on.

Ultimately, the constituents of the leaders demanded peace from the leaders and the leaders realized they had no support for their intransigence.

According to this report, Mitchell is focusing on building support for peace among the constituent civil society groups on both sides, and when that process is complete, he can tell the leaders that they are no longer in step with their constituents.

I also saw this process up close in South Africa. There was a lot of behind the scenes consensus building, led largely by Americans, while the apartheid government and ANC were still posturing.

[Turborama]

21. That is a fascinating insight, thanks for sharing. Maybe there is hope after all....

...no matter what the naysayers may have us believe. It's very easy to be sceptical after all the years of self destructive intransigence we've witnessed, but most people did think that the Northern Ireland 'troubles' would go on forever...

:kick: & R

[The Stranger]

23. Senator Mitchell,

. . . Blessed are the Peacemakers . . .

[The Stranger]

22. You tell them, Rahm.

Lieberman and Netanyahu are lying -- the Palestinians have been recognizing and re-recognizing Israel's right to exist for decades, going back to the 1980's when John Chancellor of NBC reported that Israel "won't take 'yes' for an answer."

[Scurrilous]

26. Palestinians Ask U.S. Envoy to Press Israel on 'Two-State Solution'

<snip>

"Palestinian leaders asked the American envoy to the Middle East on Friday to press Israel’s new government to accept the notion of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and other Palestinian officials met with the envoy, George J. Mitchell, at the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah a day after Mr. Mitchell held talks with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s conservative-leaning prime minister, and other Israeli leaders.

Mr. Netanyahu, who took office last month, has refused to explicitly support Palestinian statehood, and says that the new government is still formulating its policies. He told Mr. Mitchell that it was time for “new approaches and fresh ideas,” and said the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state, a condition Palestinian negotiators have long refused to meet.

But Mr. Mitchell said after the meeting in Ramallah that “a two-state solution is the only solution,” and that a comprehensive peace in the Middle East was “in the national interest of the United States,” as well as in the interests of Palestinians and Israelis.

Saeb Erekat, a senior Abbas aide and veteran Palestinian negotiator, said in a statement on Friday that the demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish state before negotiations was “an admission by Netanyahu that he cannot deliver on peace” and a stalling tactic. He noted that the Palestine Liberation Organization had already recognized the state of Israel while Mr. Netanyahu “refuses to even mention a Palestinian state.”

Palestinians contend that recognition of Israel’s Jewish character would negate Palestinian refugees’ demand for the right of return and would be detrimental to the status of Israel’s Arab citizens, who make up a fifth of the population."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/world/middleeast/18mideast.html?ref=middleeast

[Barack_America]

27. $

No more.