White House Sends A-Team To Israel To Try To Overcome Settlements Impasse, Talk Iran

[Purveyor]

Last night, at his White House news conference, Barack Obama was asked to explain his logic for pushing an August deadline on getting health reform legislation passed. "If you don't set deadlines in this town, things don't happen," the U.S. president said. "The default position is inertia ... There's always going to be some interest out there that decides, ‘You know what, the status quo is working for me a little bit better.'"

The same might be said about the current dispute between the Obama administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Washington's demand that Israel freeze Jewish settlements in the West Bank. For several weeks, U.S. Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell has been negotiating with Israeli leaders over what exactly a settlement freeze means, as Israeli leaders have looked for wiggle room. Obama says his tough line on Israeli settlements is intended to remove a key obstacle to getting to a two-state solution and advancing peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as between Israel and Arab states.

A flurry of upcoming meetings between senior U.S. and Israeli officials suggests that Washington is determined to try to overcome the current impasse. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrives in Israel Monday for talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and other leaders. Mitchell too is headed back to Israel Sunday, after visits today in Abu Dhabi, and Damascus Saturday, and before going on to Egypt and Bahrain.

National Security Advisor Gen. James. L. Jones also confirmed to Foreign Policy that he plans to lead a separate multiagency team that reportedly includes officials from the Treasury Department, CIA, as well as NSC Senior Director for the Central Region Dennis Ross to Israel for meetings next Wednesday with Israeli national security advisor Uzi Arad and others. Iran is expected to be the major focus of these talks, which are separate from the Gates' trip, a U.S. defense official said. Some Iran watchers believe if Iran hasn't responded to the offer for talks by September, that the process for organizing a tougher sanctions regime targeting Iran will begin to get underway at the U.N. General Assembly in September and subsequent G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, although administration and outside sources have indicated Russia is not likely to support such measures until after the end of the year.

Obama's stance on Israel is facing predictable criticism from more right-leaning pro-Israel groups in the United States. Mort Klein of the Zionist Organization of America, for instance, this week described the U.S. pressure over plans to build Jewish housing on the site of a Jerusalem hotel as "racist." But more troubling perhaps for Obama are doubts from some who strongly support his push to resolve the conflict.

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http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/07/23/white_house_sends_a_team_to_israel_to_try_to_overcome_settlements_impasse