Netanyahu in Egypt
In order to emphasize the importance of Egypt, PM Netanyahu's first meeting with a foreign leader was with Pres. Mubarak on Monday. After greeting the Pope on his official visit to Israel, and leaving him with Pres. Peres, Netanyahu flew down to Taba to meet Mubarak.
They talked among other things about the growing coincidence of interests between the moderate Sunni Muslim Arab States, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and Israel, in relation to the threat of Iran for local hegemony. Viewed objectively, Shia Iran is a far more dangerous historical threat to them than Israel, and they must realize this. Certainly, a solution to the Palestine problem would assuage their fears of Israel, but there is really no direct linkage of the Palestine conflict with the Iranian threat, only insofar as Iran uses it for propaganda purposes. Anyway the talks between Mubarak and Netanyahu were cordial and wide-ranging.
There is great concern in Israel over statements from Obama Government officials, including Gen. Jones, Obama's security advisor and Rahm Emmanuel his Office Chief, linking these two issues. The fear is that when Netanyahu visits Washington soon he will be given an ultimatum, either you make concessions to the Palestinians and accept a "two state solution," or the US will not support you against Iran. But, this is a highly unlikely scenario, since US interests are also against Iran developing nuclear weapons, as stated by Pres. Obama several times, and everyone knows that under present circumstances with Hamas in control of Gaza, there is no real possibility of the Palestinians (the PA) forging an actual agreement.
Also, there is a limit as to how far Netanyahu can go without jeopardizing his tenuous coalition Government. It seems much more likely that Netanayhu will present his new policies to Obama and they will come to a compromise arrangement that will satisfy both US and Israeli interests. This is the view of Congressman Wexler of Florida, a strong Obama supporter, who is visiting Israel now and who had a long meeting with PM Netanyahu Sunday (as reported in the J'sam Post). At least let's hope that this is the actual outcome of the upcoming meeting in Washington.
They talked among other things about the growing coincidence of interests between the moderate Sunni Muslim Arab States, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and Israel, in relation to the threat of Iran for local hegemony. Viewed objectively, Shia Iran is a far more dangerous historical threat to them than Israel, and they must realize this. Certainly, a solution to the Palestine problem would assuage their fears of Israel, but there is really no direct linkage of the Palestine conflict with the Iranian threat, only insofar as Iran uses it for propaganda purposes. Anyway the talks between Mubarak and Netanyahu were cordial and wide-ranging.
There is great concern in Israel over statements from Obama Government officials, including Gen. Jones, Obama's security advisor and Rahm Emmanuel his Office Chief, linking these two issues. The fear is that when Netanyahu visits Washington soon he will be given an ultimatum, either you make concessions to the Palestinians and accept a "two state solution," or the US will not support you against Iran. But, this is a highly unlikely scenario, since US interests are also against Iran developing nuclear weapons, as stated by Pres. Obama several times, and everyone knows that under present circumstances with Hamas in control of Gaza, there is no real possibility of the Palestinians (the PA) forging an actual agreement.
Also, there is a limit as to how far Netanyahu can go without jeopardizing his tenuous coalition Government. It seems much more likely that Netanayhu will present his new policies to Obama and they will come to a compromise arrangement that will satisfy both US and Israeli interests. This is the view of Congressman Wexler of Florida, a strong Obama supporter, who is visiting Israel now and who had a long meeting with PM Netanyahu Sunday (as reported in the J'sam Post). At least let's hope that this is the actual outcome of the upcoming meeting in Washington.
posted by Jack Cohen at 7:09 PM
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