Word: netanyahu
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...build 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem, the Administration demanded Israel halt new construction in those parts of the city it occupied in the war of 1967, but which are claimed by the Palestinians as their future capital. Not only did the Israelis demur, but hours before Netanyahu arrived at the White House on Tuesday it emerged that Israeli authorities had approved further construction at yet another site in East Jerusalem. No surprise there, since Netanyahu had on Monday told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), "Jerusalem is not a settlement. It is our capital ... Everyone knows that...
...Netanyahu's claims may have been a crowd-pleaser at AIPAC, and they went unchallenged on Capitol Hill. Still, as far as the U.S. government and the rest of the international community is concerned, Israeli construction in East Jerusalem is settlement activity. Whereas U.S. Presidents typically use words like unhelpful to describe it, on Wednesday the mild-mannered U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon was more forthright, denouncing the new housing units planned by Israel in East Jerusalem as "illegal." Israel's claims on the parts of the city it captured in 1967 are not internationally recognized, and Netanyahu...
...Washington, Netanyahu reportedly talked with Obama for some 90 minutes on Tuesday evening, then sequestered himself in a different room in the White House with his advisers for another hour and a half before holding a second half-hour meeting with the President at the Israelis' request. But even that failed to bridge the gap between the two sides over what would constitute an acceptable approach to restarting the peace process, and the Israeli leader remained in Washington Wednesday as aides from both sides worked on the issue. The Administration clearly fears that the hard-line position staked...
...Netanyahu insists that Israel is ready to resume direct negotiations, and blames Palestinian demands for a complete settlement freeze for creating an impasse. But his stance on Jerusalem may have simply reinforced the Palestinian leadership's argument that no deal can be done with the current Israeli government. (Of course, the Israelis might counter that the current Palestinian leadership with which it is being asked to negotiate has questionable political authority over its own people.) Still, the Obama Administration appears inclined to force Netanyahu to make a choice between pursuing a peace process whose contours "everybody knows" - to borrow...
...Observers sympathetic to Netanyahu paint him as the prisoner of a right-wing coalition in which settlers and other extremist elements are well represented. Making concessions on Jerusalem, the argument goes, would force the collapse of Netanyahu's government. Perhaps, but what that argument ignores is that, if he wants to make concessions for peace, Netanyahu has a willing coalition partner available in the form of the centrist Kadima Party, whose 28 seats make it the largest party in the 120-seat parliament. Together with the 27 held by his own Likud Party and the 13 held by Labor (which...