US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu smiled through gritted teeth to hide their mutual loathing yesterday as they uttered platitudes about Middle East peace.
Advertisement
Even though the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians seem further out of reach, President Barack Obama and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu (neh-ten-YAH’-hoo) are reaffirming their commitment to the peace process.
The meeting between Netanyahu and Obama at the White House is the first time the two leaders have met face-to-face in over a year.
Speaking to reporters moments after his two-and-half hour powwow with Obama, Netanyahu said the discussion focused mainly on Israel’s security needs and American military aid to Israel, and steps on the ground Jerusalem intends to take to stabilize relations with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu told Obama on Monday that he remained committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli Cabinet Minister Silvan Shalom, Netanyahu’s designated negotiator with the Palestinians, said in a radio interview before the White House meeting that the Israeli Prime Minister would offer a number of confidence-building gestures toward the Palestinians, including easing restrictions on communications, water usage, work permits in Israel and Palestinian development in the West Bank.
They grasped each other’s hands for two strong but unsmiling handshakes before television cameras, and they pledged fidelity to a few fundamental facts of their working relationship.
The mood among leaders in Tel Aviv is now that the Iran agreement has been ratified, the only thing to do is capitalize on it by convincing Washington to boost military aid to Israel from more than $3 billion to possibly $5 billion a year.
“The security of Israel is one of my top foreign policy priorities”, Mr Obama said.
But the snarky remarks from White House spokesman Josh Earnest weren’t good at all. “We’ll never give up our hope for peace”, Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu declared, “We have not given up our hope for peace”.
The President did acknowledge his public clashes with Netanyahu over the Iran nuclear deal – which the Israeli leader has branded a historic mistake – but emphasized where they agree on the strategically crucial concern.
“Israel has shouldered a tremendous defence burden over the years and we have done it with the generous assistance of the United States of America”, said Netanyahu, who is thought to be pushing for an existing 10-year deal struck by George W Bush that is worth a total of $30bn to be replaced by a substantially more generous one once it expires.
Brookings Institution Fellow Natan Sachs says now that the Iran deal is being implemented, the interests of the two countries are aligned again.
Advertisement
Netanyahu will deliver speeches at the American Enterprise Institute, the annual Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly and the Center for American Progress during his trip before flying back to Israel on Wednesday. Even as the leaders sought each other’s counsel on regional developments, growing violence within Israel and Palestine have raised concerns about the beginning of a third Intifada, or Palestinian uprising.
