President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat down for what may be their final official meeting Wednesday, seemingly determined not to let their rocky eight-year relationship define the future of U.S.
Advertisement
President Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in NY on September 21.
The leaders were all smiles as they sat down in NY for what the White House said was likely to be their last meeting before Mr Obama’s presidency ends in January.
Netanyahu concurred with the president on the relationship between the two countries, saying that “Israel has no bigger friend than America, and America has no bigger friend than Israel”.
The low point between the two men came in March 2015, when Netanyahu infuriated the White House by publicly lobbying against the Iran nuclear deal before Congress – a move the administration lambasted as a breach of diplomatic protocol. “One thing I can say about Prime Minister Netanyahu is that he has always been candid with us”, Obama said.
“We do have concerns around settlement activity as well”.
The former senator had been the point man in talks to end Britain’s Northern Ireland conflict, and his promotion had been seen as marking the young USA leader’s seriousness.
USA officials have maintained for months that Obama has not yet made up his mind whether or not he will deliver a speech before he leaves office on what he believes should be the parameters of a future peace deal, or whether the United States would support or veto a new UN Security Council resolution on the issue.
Palestinians were not happy to be accused of incitement, and Israelis even more unhappy about the words “occupy” and “settle” and “Palestinian land”.
“Any such resolution, whether focused on settlements or other final status issues, will ultimately make it more hard for Israelis and Palestinians to resolve the conflict”, said the letter, which was backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
The incident comes as a new surge of Palestinian violence against Israeli security forces and civilians began last week following a period of relative calm in a wave of violence that began at the start of Rosh Hashanah previous year. “And I believe that as soon as we have a new president, we should rescind that agreement and give one that is better for Israel and better for the United States”. He added that he hoped his last face-to-face meeting with Mr. Netanyahu will “assure that we keep alive the possibility of a stable, secure Israel at peace with its neighbors and a Palestinian [nation] that meets the aspirations of their people”.
Advertisement
If Obama had left Israel-Palestine at the heart of what he has done or not done in office, the challengers in the race to replace him might have made it an election issue. It also says Jerusalem is Israel’s indivisible capital.
