ISRAEL’S SENIOR ministers will convene this morning to decide how to respond to the demand from US president Barack Obama for Israeli actions designed at getting the Middle East peace process back on track.
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu returned from Washington last night after failing to reach agreement with Mr Obama on a compromise over the American demands.
The White House didn’t reveal what exactly the president was seeking from the Israeli leader, but the demands reportedly included a call to curb construction in east Jerusalem, a commitment to extend the 10-month moratorium on West Bank settlement construction, an agreement on a two-year deadline for talks with the Palestinians, and details on the Israeli position on the core issues.
Members of Mr Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party and right-wing coalition partners rallied around the prime minister yesterday, urging him to stand firm against American pressure. Eli Ishai, leader of the religious Shas party, vowed construction in Israel’s capital city will continue. “I thank God I have been given the opportunity to be the minister who approves the construction of thousands of housing units in Jerusalem,” he told an ultra-orthodox newspaper.
Vice prime minister Silvan Shalom from the Likud said there can be no conditions imposed on construction in Jerusalem. “How did we get to the point that building in Jerusalem has turned into a stumbling block? If we blink now, we will lose everything, and when that happens the government will collapse,” he told Israel radio.
Israeli officials had hailed the invitation from Mr Obama for a White House meeting with Mr Netanyahu as an indication that the recent tension in bilateral ties, prompted by Israel’s announcement of more building in east Jerusalem during the visit of vice-president Joe Biden, was now over.
But just before the Obama-Netanyahu meeting, news broke of another Israeli decision to build in east Jerusalem. Final permission was granted to construct 20 homes in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, at the site of the former Shepard hotel.
Israeli analysts described the Obama-Netanyahu meeting as a “well-planned White House ambush” that caught the Israeli leader totally off-guard.
What has been described as the worst crisis in US-Israel relations in decades, characterised by a clear lack of trust between the two leaders, is clearly far from over.
Mr Netanyahu may have been able to make promises to Mr Obama in private , even on contentious issues such as construction. But the American demand for public commitments to coax the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, created an impossible dilemma for Mr Netanyahu.
Today, the ministerial “forum of seven” will be asked to decide between two alternatives: agreeing to the far-reaching concessions demanded by Mr Obama and repairing Israel’s ties with its most important ally; or saying “no” and risking Israel being seen by the international community as the obstacle to Middle East peace.