Obama in personal appeal to Netanyahu: Extend settlement freeze for two months

[Poll_Blind]

Source: Haaretz

U.S. President Barack Obama offered to support the presence of Israel Defense Force soldiers in the Jordan Valley even after the establishment of a Palestinian state, if Israel would agree to a two month settlement building freeze, in a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Netanyahu is inclined to reject the offer and has not replied to the letter as of yet, though the Prime Minister's office has refused to answer questions regarding the issue.

The contents of the American president's letter and the Israeli prime minister's response were revealed by David Mokovsky, a researcher with ties to Dennis Ross, Barack Obama's chief advisor on the Middle East.

Read more: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/pakistan/index.html

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While the article is at Haaretz, the actual piece which reveals the letter (and talks at quite a bit more length on the matter) can be found here at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

PB

[pattmarty]

1. Barack "no balls" Obama will ask (politely, of course) to stop the settlements.......

.........He needs a little more LBJ and less cookie monster. TELL these motherfuckers he will cut off ALL funding UNLESS they stop the settlements. Unless an American President tells the Israelis in no fucking uncertain terms to stop the settlements THEY WILL NOT. Unless an American President has balls to tell the Israelis to MAKE it happen there will be no peace agreement, period! It is time to slap the shit out of them (metaphysically speaking).

[Poll_Blind]

2. He started out quite strong on not just the issue of Middle East peace but...

...the whole way the U.S. interfaces with Arab/Muslim countries. Then it sort of...

PB

[pattmarty]

3. Yeah, I know. He did the "sort of" on EVERYTHING.

[maxsolomon]

4. 2 months? BFD.

the settlers are the largest impediment to peace, and they will leave, eventually.

and this time, israel should leave the buildings and infrastructure for the palestinians, too.

[defendandprotect]

5. We're supply the weapons and $$$ for this warmaking ... and Obama is "asking" ... ????

[harun]

6. Psssst, don't ask, tell.

[gratuitous]

7. Or else . . . what?

You'll ask again? I'm sure that will have the hard-liners just shaking in their boots.

[Behind the Aegis]

8. White House: Obama did not send letter to Netanyahu

The White House denied on Thursday that U.S. President Barack Obama sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposing a set of U.S. guarantees to Israel in exchange for Israel extending a freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank for another two months.

"No letter was sent to the Prime Minister. We are not going to comment on sensitive diplomatic matters,” said Benjamin Chang, the deputy spokesman for the White House National Security Council.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/white-house-obama-did-not-send-letter-to-netanyahu-1.316491