U.S. Could Back UN
Resolution on Palestine, White House
Official Says
Move to come in response to Netanyahu's
two-state reversal, official tells NYT.
Obama to pass responsibility for Israel ties
to Kerry; 'President doesn’t want to waste
his time,' says U.S. official.
By Barak Ravid
March 19, 2015 "ICH"
- "Haaretz"
- The Obama administration might be
open to lending its support to the UN
Security Council's resolution that would
define the principle for a two-state
solution as based on Israel's 1967 borders,
a senior White House official told The New
York Times. The move would come in response
to Netanyahu's withdrawal of his support for
the establishing of a Palestinian state as
expressed in his Bar Ilan speech in 2009.
The U.S. has previously refused to endorse
the resolution, which allows for mutually
agreed swaps of territory between Israel and
the future Palestinian state. Israel
vehemently opposes it.
"The premise of our position internationally
has been to support direct negotiations
between the Israelis and the Palestinians,”
the official told the Times. “We are now in
a reality where the Israeli government no
longer supports direct negotiations.
Therefore we clearly have to factor that
into our decisions going forward."
Two weeks ago, after
Netanyahu's speech before the U.S. Congress,
White House officials told Haaretz that
Obama was interested in making another
attempt at advancing the Israeli-Palestinian
peace process during his last two years in
office. They made it clear that the decision
on how and when to move forward would be
made only after the Israeli elections.
In the article published
on Thursday morning in the Times, the senior
official said that due to the results of the
Israeli elections, and against the backdrop
of his tense relationship with Netanyahu,
Obama means to transfer responsibilities for
dealing with Jerusalem to Secretary of State
John Kerry. The U.S.-Israel security ties
would be passed to senior officials in the
U.S. Department of Defense.
“The president is a pretty
pragmatic person and if he felt it would be
useful, he will certainly engage,” the
senior administration official told the
Times. “But he’s not going to waste his
time.”
He asked not to be
identified while discussing Obama’s opinions
of Netanyahu.
On Wednesday, while
adressing the results of the Israeli
election, White House Press Secretary Josh
Ernest voiced harsh criticism of Netanyahu's
conduct during the last days of his campaign
.
"The Obama administration
is deeply concerned by the use of divisive
rhetoric in Israel that sought to
marginalize Arab Israeli citizens," said
Ernest, alluding to a series of statements
issued by Netanyahu via social media, in
which he urged his supporters to go and
vote, and warned that "the right-wing's rule
is in danger" because "the Arab are voting
in droves."
The White House has been
closely following the Israeli elections over
the past days, and was dismayed by the
demonization of Israeli Arab voters employed
in Netanyahu's reelection campaign. The
White House declined to issue any public
statement regarding the matter over the past
days in order to not play into Neyanyahu's
hands – choosing to do so only after the
results were in.
"This rhetoric undermines
the values and Democratic ideals that have
been important to our democracy and an
important part of what binds the United
States and Israel together,” Ernest said in
his daily briefing for reporters, and added
that the administration intended to
communicate these views "directly to the
Israelis."
Ernest also referred to
Netanyahu's backing off of his Bar Ilan
speech and his support for a Palestinian
state as expressed in it. Ernest stated that
for the past 20 years, the U.S. has held to
the policy that a two-state solution is "the
goal of resolving the conflict between the
Israelis and Palestinians.”
He added that the U.S.
continue to believe a two-state solution is
the “best way to diffuse tensions” in the
region.
“Based on Prime Minister
Netanyahu’s comments, the United States will
reevaluate our position and the path forward
in this situation,” he said.
On Wednesday, Kerry called
Netanyahu and congratulated him for his
victory. The conversation was short, and did
not deal with affairs of state. Ernest said
Obama would call Netanyahu in the near days
and noted that as in the past two election
cycles, Obama would wait until the president
officially tasks Netanyahu with forming a
coalition, or until such a coalition is
formed, before doing so.
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