Date: July 16th 2009

Obama's prizes for Israel are not "pressure"

By Ali Abunimah

The Electronic Intifada
16 July 2009

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10665.shtml

On 13 July, President Barack Obama received 16 leaders of
the most prominent pro-Israel organizations at the White
House. The gathering was an effort to assuage American
Jewish concerns about US pressure on Israel over a
settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank.

One participant argued that in the past any progress
toward peace has only been made when there was "no light"
between American and Israeli positions. "I disagree," the
president responded according to one witness, and pointed
out that during eight years of the Bush administration,
"there was no light between the United States and Israel,
and nothing got accomplished."

Obama reaffirmed his commitment to achieving a settlement
to the Arab-Israeli conflict and emphasized the short
window and special opportunity that he had to produce one
given his outreach efforts to Arabs and Muslims.

All of this will reinforce the faith of those convinced
that Obama's policies mark a decisive shift from his
predecessors, a rupture in the Israeli-American
relationship, and can produce what has eluded all others:
a workable and agreed two-state solution.

Obama has consistently stressed his belief in the
"unbreakable" US-Israeli relationship. Considering his
actions and words so far, there is little reason to doubt
him. But unless he is prepared to go much further than
anyone has publicly contemplated in pressuring Israel, his
peace initiative has negligible chances of success.

For months the focus has been on Obama's demand that
Israel agree to a complete cessation of settlement
construction, including the subterfuge called "natural
growth." It was during a similar "freeze" in the early
1990s that Israel built thousands of settler housing units
on occupied land. Arab optimism and Israeli anxiety were
amplified as Obama and his Middle East Envoy George
Mitchell said repeatedly that this time they wanted a
total halt.

Yet the firmness shows signs of erosion. Israeli press
reports spoke of a "compromise" taking shape in which
Israel would be allowed to complete thousands of already
planned housing units. Although those reports were denied
by the United States, several participants in the White
House meeting said Obama alluded to an unspecified
compromise in the works.

Anything short of a complete cessation of settlement
construction will mark an achievement for Israel; what is
important is not the number of units the United States may
approve, but the principle that this administration, like
its predecessors, will license Israel's illegal
colonization. Once that principle is established, Israel
may present more faits accomplis and build at will.

And even if Israel does agree to a verifiable cessation,
the US has structured the matter as a quid pro quo in
which Israel is not required to do anything without
receiving a reward. The president has appealed to Arab
states to normalize ties with Israel if it freezes
settlements, including opening diplomatic missions and
allowing overflights by El Al aircraft (recall that when
en route to bomb Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981, Israeli
warplanes reportedly falsely identified themselves as
commercial aviation). Given how little leverage the Arab
side has, it would be totally disarmed if it conceded any
such gestures in exchange for so little.

Israel's settlements violate numerous UN Security Council
resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention. It should no
more be rewarded for ending settlement construction than
Iraq should have been rewarded for withdrawing from Kuwait
after Iraq invaded in 1990. While today US-occupied,
war-torn Iraq is still paying Kuwait billions of dollars
annually in compensation for a seven-month long occupation
that ended almost two decades ago, the US is offering
Israel prizes not for ending a 42-year-old occupation but
merely for ceasing to commit some crimes.

This can hardly be described as anything other than a net
gain for Israel, especially since the settlement project
is reaching its natural conclusion. There are already
500,000 settlers in the West Bank, who with their
infrastructure consume more than 42 percent of the land.
Nothing Obama has ever said indicates he will deviate from
his predecessors' policy of recognizing these facts and
demanding that Palestinians agree to let Israel keep
settlements already built.

While all the attention is focused on the freeze, Israel
maintains its siege of Gaza -- despite Obama's calls to
loosen it -- and continues to build the West Bank wall
five years after the International Court of Justice
ordered it torn down. The United States itself continues
to undermine chances for intra-Palestinian reconciliation,
and therefore credible negotiations, by fueling the
smoldering civil war between US-backed Palestinian
militias on the one hand and resistance factions led by
Hamas on the other.

On the outside Israelis may be crying about US "pressure"
but on the inside they must be quietly smiling.

Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah is
author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the
Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. This article was originally
published by http://www.bitterlemons-international.org and
is republished with permission.


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