Wednesday, January 13, 2010

US threat?

In an interview last week Sen. John Mitchell, Pres. Obama's representative to the Middle East, made an implied threat to Israel. He said that if Israel doesn't go along with Pres. Obama's program for the Middle East peace process then sanctions might be applied, such as removing US loan guarantees to Israel. The big question in current discourse regarding the US-Israel relationship is was this merely a hypothetical slip that Mitchell made in answer to a probing question, or was it a real implied threat? Commentators have lined up on both sides of this issue, but many agree that Mitchell would not have expressed this thought were it not in his mind in the first place.
Many may ask why would the US need to threaten Israel regarding peace talks with the Palestinians when it is PM Netanyahu who is calling for the unconditional resumption of peace talks, while it is the Palestinians under Pres. Abbas who are balking and who are continually placing preconditions on their participation. Also, the US pressured Israel to freeze all building in the West Bank and the negotiations between the US and Israel resulted in a 10 month freeze on building in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, which was annexed to Israel. After agreeing to this compromise, that Secty. of State Clinton called "unprecedented," Abbas still adamantly refuses to budge, and the US may be again trying to squeeze more out of Israel rather than squeezing the Palestinians.
But, there may be movement in the works, Abbas has said that he wants to negotiate (although he has not dropped his precondition) and Netanyahu has said that he feels a "new atmosphere." However, the US has publicly declared that the negotiations once started should conclude with an agreement within 2 years. The thought is that if they don't make such progress then the US is letting Israel know now that further concessions will be required, or else!

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