Israel scrambled on Tuesday to sidestep US President Barack Obama’s demand for a West Bank settlement freeze with a diluted counteroffer to Washington.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s compromise — to take down some squatter camps in exchange for permission to keep building in established settlements — was quickly rejected by hardliners in his own coalition.
The dispute underscored Netanyahu’s difficult juggling act. He’s trying to avert a crisis with the US over settlements while keeping his pro-settlement governing coalition intact and forging ahead with construction in the West Bank.
PHOTO: AFP
Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have spoken in recent days about halting all settlement activity without exception, suggesting Netanyahu may have little room to bargain.
Also, the 2003 “road map” for peace negotiations, which Israel accepted, bans all construction in settlements and orders the removal of the outposts.
Cutting a deal with Israel on settlements could also hurt Obama’s credibility and key policy goals, including improving US relations with the Arab world and moving toward the creation of a Palestinian state in a Mideast peace deal. There was no immediate reaction from Washington.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was to put settlements at the center of talks with Obama at the White House today and said he would not resume peace talks without a freeze.
Without a moratorium on settlements, Obama could also have a tough time persuading Arab countries to take his suggestion and begin moving toward normalizing relations with Israel.
Continued construction could also close the door to a two-state solution, defined by Obama as a key US interest. Nearly half a million Israelis have moved into homes built during the last four decades on land the Palestinians want for their state.
However, some supporters of a two-state solution argue that Obama is wasting political capital on the interim step of a freeze and should focus on getting quickly to a peace deal that would determine the fate of the settlements by drawing Israel’s permanent borders.
The US has long criticized settlements as obstacles to peace but never succeeded in getting Israel to halt construction, which continued even during periods of peace negotiations. More than 3,200 apartments were being built in the West Bank last year, and the Israeli settlement monitor Peace Now says 6,000 more units are in various stages of planning.
Nearly 300,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, in addition to some 180,000 in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians’ would-be capital.
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