En brett leende Netanyahu i Vita Huset, för sitt femte möte med Obama.
Först president Obamas helt oväntade varning till palestinierna på Västbanken (dom enda palestinier som får vara med på Obamas fredsplan)
Jared A. Favole skriver i Wall Street Journal om den häpnadsväckande varningen som klart visar att Obama inte längre ser sig själv som opartisk i förhandlingarna (eftersom han inte skulle drömma om att varna den israeliska regeringen på samma nedsättande sätt) Obama: U.S.-Israel Bond ‘Unbreakable’ – WSJ.com
Mr. Netanyahu said the two discussed “concrete” steps they would take in the coming weeks to help move toward direct talks on Mideast peace. Mr. Netanyahu said it was “high-time” for he, Mr. Obama and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to have direct talks on Mideast peace. Mr. Obama said he hoped direct talks would begin before the moratorium on Jewish construction ends in September. Mr. Obama said Palestinians have taken positive steps recently in the area of security but warned the country not to look for “opportunities to embarrass Israel.” He added, “I think it’s very important that the Palestinians not look for excuses for incitement, that they are not engaging in provocative language.” .
Michele Dunne i Foreign Policy skriver om orsakerna till att Obamas fredsplan inte kommer att leda någonvart: It’s Not the Economy, Stupid | Foreign Policy
Gaza’s economic plight is a symptom of a larger failure of U.S. policy. The U.S. approach toward the Israeli-Palestinian issue — which sets the tone for policies by Europe and other interested parties — is based in part on two assumptions that are almost certainly false. First, the United States assumes that indirect talks between Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas can lead to direct negotiations, which can then lead to a comprehensive peace agreement that would allow Abbas to outmaneuver Hamas and regain control of Gaza. Secondly, U.S. policymakers believe that a process of internationally funded reform, led by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, can create the strong, efficient institutions needed for a future Palestinian state.
Båda dessa hypoteser är felaktiga skriver Michele Dunne i en mycket viktig artikel, läs den.
Dan Ephron skriver i Newsweek om hur Netanyahu-regeringen fortsätter att bygga på Västbanken: What Will Netanyahu Say to Obama? – Newsweek
…Some of the new construction is centered in East Jerusalem, which Israel said all along was not part of the moratorium, though it’s recognized by the U.S. and most of the world as occupied territory. Some is underway in the illegal outposts that, absurdly, Israel has said don’t count because the outposts were never authorized by the government in the first place. But the bulldozers are also operating in established settlements throughout the West Bank, thanks largely to a surge in housing permits Netanyahu granted on the eve of the freeze last year. Overall, at least 3,000 new housing units will have been built this year, according to the group Peace Now,
Det mest märkliga är att, som jag skrev igår, Obama-regeringen ger de illegala israeliska bosättarna ett omfattande finansiellt stöd samtidigt som man säger att man vill ha stopp på nya bosättningar. Redan indianerna på 1700 och 1800-talet upptäckte som bekant att den vite mannen pratade med kluven tunga. Obama är bland de värsta på länge på det området.
Anne E. Kornblut och Michael D. Shear skriver i Washington Post om hur republikanerna nu pressar Obama inför kongressvalet att inta en mer Israelvänlig linje Obama, Netanyahu promise to work toward direct Mideast peace talks
Already, from Illinois to Florida, Republican candidates have been raising Israel as part of a broader critique of Obama’s foreign policy, seeking to chip away at national-security-minded independents and Jewish voters who traditionally support Democrats. When Obama made statements of measured support for Israel after the raid on a Turkish flotilla carrying aid to Gaza last month, Marco Rubio, the Republican candidate in Florida’s Senate race, delivered a speech sharply criticizing Obama’s Israel policy. “There is the emerging sense that this long-standing relationship isn’t what it used to be,” Rubio said. Robert Dold, a Republican running for an open seat in the 10th Congressional District of Illinois, has accused the administration of an “alarming pattern” in the Middle East.
Obamas agerande mot Iran de senaste veckorna visar att han nu har böjt sig för Netanyahus främsta krav, att vägen till fred i Mellanöstern går genom Teheran.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg och Mark Landler skriver ocks[ i New York Times att Obama nu backar 180 grader och inte längre kommer att kräva att Israel undertecknar Ickespridningsavtalet, en mycket stor seger för Netanyahu och ett klart bevis på att Obama inte längre bryr sig speciellt mycket om opinionen i de muslimska länderna i Mellanöstern: U.S. and Israel Shift Attention to Peace Process
In another gesture to the Israelis, Mr. Obama emphasized that there had been no shift in American policy on Israel’s undeclared nuclear weapons program, despite the United States’ signature on a recent United Nations document that singled out Israel for its refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, binding 189 countries.
Obama stället heller inte längre några krav på den israeliska regeringen att stoppa nya bosättningar för att förhandlingarna ska börja: (samma källa)
Mr. Obama pointedly did not push Mr. Netanyahu to extend the existing moratorium. Instead, he said that moving from American-brokered “proximity talks” to direct talks would give Mr. Netanyahu the incentive and domestic political leeway to act on his own.
Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahus utrikesminister har redan gjort klart att förhandlingarna inte kommer att leda till ett självständigt Palestina före utgången av år 2012, dvs inte före utgången av Obamas presidentperiod.
Så var det med det. Så förhandlingar utan mål, ytterligare en mycket stor eftergift från Obama.
President Obama kommer också att besöka Israel även om vi inte ännu vet när. Men vi kan vara säkra på att det kommer att offentliggöras före kongressvalen i november. Sheryl Gay Stolberg och Mark Landler skriver i New York Times:U.S. and Israel Shift Attention to Peace Process
…He publicly invited Mr. Obama to visit Israel, and the president said, ’I’m ready. ’ The two leaders were not specific about what ’concrete steps ’ Mr. Netanyahu could take to move the peace talks along, though Mr. Obama seemed to suggest a timetable when he said it was his hope that direct talks would begin ’well before ’ a moratorium on settlement construction expires this fall. The president said he believed that Mr. Netanyahu was ’willing to take risks for peace. ’ After weeks of American-brokered indirect talks, in which the administration’s special envoy, George J. Mitchell, has shuttled between the two sides, the White House has been eager to push the process forward so that the Israelis and Palestinians can talk directly. Mr. Netanyahu said over the weekend that a ’main goal ’ of his session with Mr. Obama would be to advance direct talks.
Till sist, Isabel Kershner skriver i New York Times om hur Netanyahu-regeringen nu ska undersöka eventuella övergrepp mot palestinierna i Gaza under den brutala offensiven under vintern 2008-09, övergrepp dom dokumenterades i Goldstone-rapporten som Netanyahu-regeringen har vägrat att acceptera: Israeli Military Announces Indictments in Gaza War – NYTimes.com
JERUSALEM ’ The Israeli military said Tuesday that it had indicted ’a number of ’ officers and soldiers for their actions during Israel’s three-week offensive in Gaza in the winter of 2008-9, including a staff sergeant accused of deliberately shooting at least one Palestinian civilian who was walking with a group of people waving a white flag.
Så vad kommer att ske? Svaret är enkelt, ingenting. Den israeliska blockaden av Gaza kommer att fortsätta och, som Dan Ephron skriver i Newsweek, även om man nu kommer att släppa in mer förnödenheter så är Obama och Netanyahu, och för den delen även EU, helt överens om att man under inga omständigheter kommer att tillåta att ekonomin i Gaza kommer på fötter. Gazaborna ska INTE få exportera varor till utlandet: Israel Offers Misdirection on Gaza. Easing the import blockade won’t help Gaza. What it needs is a free pass on exports.
Israel’s decision this week to allow more goods into the Gaza Strip may well ease the international isolation of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s government. But it won’t substantially help Gaza. While the three-year-old ban on many imports has posed a hardship for most Gazans, smugglers have been able to deliver these items through a network of tunnels connecting Gaza with Egypt. An Israeli television news segment—aired last week and widely discussed here—shows Palestinian shop owners on the phone with their Israeli suppliers, coordinating the delivery of goods by sea to Cyprus and onto Sinai, where they’re carted to Gaza through the tunnels. The real impact of the siege has been on Gaza’s export market, which has all but collapsed since 2007—and with it much of the economy. Yet in the uproar over aid flotillas and humanitarian crises, this issue has been largely overlooked. The Israeli policy shift does not address exports at all.
Direkta förhandlingar kommer alltså att starta precis som Netanyahu har krävt de senaste månaderna. Vi vet alla hur framgångsrik Obama, president för världens enda supermakt har varit i sina direkta förhandlingar med Netanyahu-regeringen. Så att de ockuperade och splittrade palestinierna skulle vara mer framgångsrika är knappast troligt.
Vilket ger den israeliska regeringen ytterligare two och ett halvt år på sig att utöka bosättningarna på Västbanken.
På sikt kommer Obamas tvära kast och kortsiktiga, opportunistiska politik bara att leda till ännu ett nytt storkrig i Mellanöstern.
Technorati Tags: Israel, Västbanken, Palestina, Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu, Budrus , Israeli-Palestinian Conflict , Nonviolence , Palestine , West Bank , World News, Salam Fayyad, Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinamuren, Israelmuren, Israels barriär på Västbanken, Avigdor Lieberman, Tzipi Livni
Svenska bloggar om: Israel, Västbanken, Palestina, Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu, Budrus , Israeli-Palestinian Conflict , Nonviolence , Palestine , West Bank , World News, Salam Fayyad, Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinamuren, Israelmuren, Israels barriär på Västbanken, Avigdor Lieberman, Tzipi Livni
Axplock från den nordiska pressen:
DN.se – Nyheter – Toppnyheter,DN.se – Nyheter – Toppnyheter,SvD – Senaste nytt,
Aftonbladet: Sveriges nyhetskäl,Dagbladet.no – nyheter,VG RSS,
Dagen.se – Stora nyheter