The United States President Barack Obama met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday as growing Israeli settlements were at the top of agenda.
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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. Many Palestinians say that the chances for a two-state solution are quickly disappearing and call on President Obama to make one last attempt to get a Palestinian state on the books.
Obama and Netanyahu have often had a contentious relationship, the low point of which occurred in 2015 when Netanyahu, without informing the White House ahead of time, arranged a trip to Washington to tell Congress why Israel opposed the worldwide agreement that the Obama administration was negotiating with Iran to curb Tehran’s nuclear weapons development. The Obama administration has been dismayed by periodic comments by the Israeli leader suggesting he is less-than-serious about the two-state solution that has been the basis of all serious peace efforts for decades.
The package constitutes the most US military aid ever given to any country, enabling Israel to upgrade most of its fighter aircraft, improve its ground forces’ mobility and strengthen its missile defence systems, a senior USA official said last week.
In likely his last United Nations speech, on Tuesday, he spoke little about the conflict beyond voicing the unsurprising sentiment that matters would improve if Israel let go of Palestinian land and if the Palestinians rejected incitement and embraced Israel’s legitimacy. Mr. Netanyahu made a public show of friendliness at the meeting.
Frustrated after years of fraught diplomacy, President Barack Obama will seek Wednesday to cast the US partnership with Israel as on solid footing, even as he openly weighs using the final stretch of his presidency to.
White House officials said Obama wasn’t actively planning such a move but would consider it if it appeared likely to influence the situation positively.
Washington’s assistance for Tel Aviv recently saw a significant boost with the Obama administration committing $3.8 billion in annual military aid to Israel to continue for the next decade beginning in 2019.
The U.S. presidential election pits Democrat Hillary Clinton, Obama’s former secretary of state and his choice for the top job, against Republican businessman Donald Trump.
Obama also used the opportunity to complain about Jewish construction in the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem, commonly referred to as settlement activity.
The senior Israeli official said Israel’s settlement policy was the sole bone of contention between the prime minister and the president.
Forty-two world leaders kick off the second day of the 71st United Nations General Assembly.
Obama made reference to a $38 billion military assistance agreement signed by the two allies on September 14.
Behind closed doors Obama is expected to press Netanyahu to return to the negotiating table with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as discuss Israel’s settlements in the West Bank.
In public, Obama and Netanyahu spent most of their time touting a 10-year military assistance deal their countries struck this month worth $38 billion, the largest tranche of military aid the US has ever given another country.
In December 1988, weeks before leaving office, President Ronald Reagan broke with Israel to authorize the start of talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Netanyahu’s government was an angry opponent of Obama’s outreach to Iran, which previous year delivered an accord to halt Tehran’s ambition to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief. -Israeli relations “is to advance the goal of peace”, adding, “That’s a goal that I and the people of Israel will never give up on”.
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Speaking to reporters before their meeting at New York’s Palace Hotel, the leaders struck a notably upbeat tone that sought to pave over very real differences that arose during their meeting.
