Two meetings, but no agreement between Obama and Netanyahu

[IndianaGreen]

Last update - 22:20 24/03/2010

Two meetings, but no agreement between Obama and Netanyahu

By Barak Ravid and Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service

Israeli and American leaders could not even agree on a joint statement after their White House talks.

WASHINGTON - The meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday did not resolve the differences of opinion on the future of the peace process with the Palestinians or Israeli construction in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu canceled a series of interviews and briefings with the American media, scheduled for Wednesday morning, in order to focus on the serious disagreements with the Obama administration.

Netanyahu arrived at the White House at 5:30 P.M. local time Tuesday, and held one on one talks with Obama for an hour and a half. The meeting ended in serious disagreement; after the talks - in an unprecedented move - Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and their advisers retired to a side room in the White House for consultations, while Obama left for his residential quarters. Some 90 minutes later, Netanyahu requested a second meeting with the president, who returned to the Oval Office for a further half-hour conversation with the prime minister.

Late night talks

But the second meeting between the two also ended in disagreement, and they could not even reach a consensus on a joint statement. Netanyahu and Ehud Barak then left the White House for the Israeli embassy in Washington, leaving the prime minister's aides, Yitzhak Molcho, Ron Dermer and Nir Chefetz, as well as Ambassador Michael Oren, to hold talks with Obama's people. Only at 2 A.M. did these consultations end, and Netanyahu and his entourage return to their hotel.

In the wake of such serious disagreements, and the need to continue the lower-level consultations Wednesday morning, Netanyahu canceled his media appearances.

Sources in Netanyahu's entourage said that the day had been devoted solely to talks with senior American officials, led by Molcho and Dermer. Netanyahu was set to meet special envoy George Mitchell on Wednesday, and he and Barak were to spend the day at the Israeli embassy.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1158688.html

To read how WaPo and Politico reported this story, go to this link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=306963

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Well, good for that.

The world seems just a little brighter when our government does not agree with Netenyahoo.

[Jefferson23]

2. Netanyahu Hits An Iceberg

5 hours and 11 minutes ago by MJ Rosenberg

My friend, who has been to at least a dozen AIPAC conferences, said that this year's reminded him of the scene in Titanic where the first class passengers chipped pieces off the iceberg to make their drink. Then he corrected himself. "The ship isn't going to sink. The conference was more like those people outside the Capitol screaming 'kill the bill' after everyone knew Obama had the votes."

I know what he meant. AIPAC is like a closed community where everyone believes pretty much the same thing and never guesses what is happening outside. I was like that in 1984 when Ronald Reagan carried 49 states against former Vice President Walter Mondale: "How could that happen when I don't know a single person who voted for Reagan?" I wondered.

Inside AIPAC, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu brought the audience to its feet repeatedly as he said the very things that brought US-Israel relations to the lowest point in decades.

This is the part of the speech that received the greatest cheers and guaranteed that the White House would give Netanyahu the coldest reception ever given an Israeli prime minister the next day.

"Jerusalem is not a settlement. It is our capital...All these neighborhoods are within a five-minute drive from the Knesset... Everyone knows that these neighborhoods will be part of Israel in any peace settlement. Therefore, building in them in no way precludes the possibility of a two-state solution."


The administration understands how utterly ridiculous Netanyahu's statement is. It has never implied that Jerusalem is a settlement. Its position is that the final status of Jerusalem must be decided in negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, just like every other piece of land added to Israel after the 1967 war.

As for Netanyahu's "everyone knows" formulation, it is bogus. After all, "everyone knows" that Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah and dozens of other West Bank cities will be inside the Palestinian state after negotiations. Can they just annex them now? (see this great article from Foreign Policy on the subject)

"Everyone knows", including Netanyahu and every one of his predecessors since Yitzhak Rabin, that totally Palestinian areas of Jerusalem will almost surely not be part of Israel after negotiations are completed, largely because Israel doesn't want them and the Palestinians do.


http://mediamattersaction.org/blog/201003240006