Israel Matzav: Obama tries to bully Israel into 'concessions'

Obama tries to bully Israel into 'concessions'

Scott Johnson noted on Sunday that the Obama administration's bullying of Israel was likely to be followed by demands that Israel make concessions to the 'Palestinians.'

The apparent purpose of this public display of animosity toward Israel is the extraction of some concession to offer to Israel's Palestinian non-interlocutors. In the purported peace talks that the administration seeks to facilitate with the part of the Palestinian Authority over which Mahhmoud Abbas presides, Abbas's representatives do not deign to meet face to face with Israel. Such obstruction does not elicit condemnation because the administration sympathizes with Abbas's need to keep up appearances with the fans of Hamas who forthrightly pledge the destruction of Israel.

The Jerusalem Post identifies some of those concessions.

The Obama administration refused to let go of the Ramat Shlomo construction controversy Sunday, with two top aides to US President Barack Obama slamming Israel amid a growing sense in Jerusalem that Washington was using the issue to squeeze diplomatic concessions from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

While the Prime Minister’s Office would not confirm the reports, it is widely believed that the US is now pressing Netanyahu to cancel the entire 1,600 housing-unit project in Ramat Shlomo.

In addition, Washington wants Israel to make a confidence building measure – such as releasing Palestinian prisoners – toward Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas before US Mideast envoy George Mitchell arrives later this week to try to get proximity talks off the ground; and to agree that the proximity talks will deal with core issues of the negotiations, and not only technical matters as a way into direct talks, as Israel had demanded.

I was thinking this morning that in the George H.W. Bush administration, they would have just kept Mitchell home and told Netanyahu to call when he was ready to talk. But that's not likely to happen in this administration. First, because keeping Mitchell home has already been tried in the month or two leading up to the 'settlement freeze.' Second, because much as Bush Senior hated Israel, he didn't feel a fierce moral urgency to bring about the creation of a 'Palestinian' terror state as Obama feels. So will Netanyahu stand up to Obama? So far, the answer seems to be yes.

One source inside the Prime Minister’s Office said he was unaware of any intention by Netanyahu either to roll back the Ramat Shlomo project, or declare a moratorium on construction in east Jerusalem, something the Palestinians have been demanding for months.

The source denied reports that before the Ramat Shlomo brouhaha erupted there were informal agreements between Mitchell and Netanyahu’s aides that once talks began Israel would make no announcements of new construction in east Jerusalem.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, speaking on Fox News on Sunday, characterized Netanyahu’s comments Sunday as a “good start,” but said more needed to be done to rebuild trust.

“I think what would be an even better start is coming to the table with constructive ideas for constructive and trustful dialogue about moving the peace process forward,” Gibbs said.

“There’s no doubt that events like last week weaken the trust that’s needed for both sides to come together and have honest discussions about peace in the Middle East,” he said. “So there’s no doubt that that was not a bright spot for the Israeli government.”

Well, there are lots of ideas that can be brought to the table that don't involve making concessions to the 'Palestinians.' Both sides can stop inciting in their educational systems.... Oops, Israel did that a long time ago. Israel can offer to reopen road blocks in Judea and.... Oops, Israel did that already too. Perhaps rather than make more concessions, Netanyahu needs to point at what has been done already, and to the fact that the 'Palestinians' have turned down three way-too-generous offers in the last ten years and try to throw the ball back into the 'Palestinians' court. Under what circumstances are they willing to make peace and live side by side in peace next to a Jewish state? We all know the answer to that question: None.

Will this blow over? We await the next headline. Remember Dubai?

Israel Matzav: Obama tries to bully Israel into 'concessions'