Special to WorldTribune.com
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has sent what was termed a tough
message to Israel that demanded progress toward a Palestinian state as well
as restraint toward Syria.
Western diplomatic sources said Obama relayed the message to Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the latter’s apparent
re-election. The sources said Obama warned Netanyahu against
a stalemate with the Palestinian Authority as well as any move that could
destabilize the Middle East.
“The message was extremely tough and basically told Israel that it was not to respond to Syria’s chemical weapons threat,” a source said.
The sources said Obama asserted that his administration would make significant changes in U.S. policy in the Middle East during his second term. They said Washington expected the Jewish state to cooperate with U.S. efforts to establish a Palestinian state as well as reduce tension with Iran and Syria.
“A significant percentage of the Israeli electorate chose to express
themselves by saying, ‘We need a different path than the one we have been pursuing internally and with respect to the Middle East peace process,'” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Jan. 29. “So I know President Obama and my successor soon-to-be secretary of state John Kerry will pursue this, will look for every possible opening.”
Obama also warned Israel against any military intervention in Syria amid the Sunni revolt against President Bashar Assad. The sources said Obama
insisted that only the United States respond to any Syrian CW threat. In
mid-January, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff acknowledged that it could not
stop a Syrian CW strike.
Analysts close to Obama agreed that the president was intent on
increasing pressure on Israel. They said Washington was not expected to
shield Israel from any international backlash to Jewish settlement in the
West Bank.
“The United States must therefore now take a harder line with Israel’s
coming government,” Ibrahim Sharqieh, deputy director of Brookings
Institution Doha Center, said. “It must switch from a strategy of
accommodation to one of confrontation, and it should start by letting fall
its diplomatic shield.”
The sources said Obama was not expected to publicly chastise Israel
during his second term. Instead, the president’s new secretary of state and
defense secretary, Kerry and Chuck Hagel, would be assigned to
criticize Israel and link U.S. aid and cooperation to a halt in Jewish
settlement in the West Bank. On Jan. 29, the Senate confirmed Kerry as secretary of state.
“Obama has entered his second term with a freer hand on foreign policy,”
Sharqieh said. “Hagel’s anti-war positions and his openness to dialogue with
Iran imply that Obama may be willing to challenge Netanyahu at some point.
If so, he will have European and international backing.”
On Jan. 28, Obama congratulated Netanyahu for the victory of the Likud Party
in Knesset elections. A week earlier, Obama was said to have leaked a
conversation to American journalist Jeffrey Golberg in which the president
called Netanyahu a “political coward.”
“The president indicated that the United States looks forward to working
with the next government,” the White House said. “He also reiterated his
commitment to the deep and enduring bonds between the United States and
Israel, and pledged to work closely with Israel on our shared agenda for
peace and security in the Middle East.”
Obama responded to Netanyahu’s election victory with ‘extremely tough letter’ added by World Tribune on
View all posts by World Tribune →
You must be logged in to post a comment Login