If you ever read Dennis Ross’ book, ‘the Missing Peace’ you saw that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been in this position before: caught between an act of contrition desired by the White House, and the bellicose defiance so admired by the hawks in his right wing government.
Netanyahu was already caught between a rock and a hard place. Then while US Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Israel, Interior Minister Eli Yishai decided to give Uncle Sam a slap upside the head. Yishai announced plans to build 1600 new apartments in East Jerusalem, clear defiance of the US wishes to stop all construction which could aggravate tensions with the Palestinians. The Vice President was embarrassed. Netanyahu’s place in the world became a little more rocky and hard.
As he jets West toward Pennsylvania Avenue, we’re getting a rough sketch of how the Prime Minister intends to chart a path of least resistance between the ally which keeps his Army well supplied and the Ministers who keep his ship afloat.
First, he refused to back down on the proposal for East Jerusalem housing construction. Netanyahu’s government has always insisted that East Jerusalem is a separate issue from the rest of the West Bank and will remain part of Israel at the end of negotiations. “As far as we are concerned, building in Jerusalem is the same as building in Tel Aviv,” Netanyahu told his cabinet. That satisfied his Ministers.
To the US, he offered a number of concessions to the Palestinians. Netanyahu spoke of easing closures in and out of the Gaza strip to allow construction supplies through. The supplies will go to re-build homes destroyed in last January’s war. He has also proposed a release of prisoners from the Fatah party, not Hamas. That move is intended to be a shot in the arm to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, from the Fatah party.
The third, and possibly most important concession, has to do with the upcoming 3 party talks, to be mediated by the US. Netanyahu has agreed to allow discussion of the, so called, “Core Issues”: Final borders, East Jerusalem, Rights of Palestinian refugees and the Holy sights.
Discussion on those subjects creates a chance – and I stress chance – that the 3 way talks could be substantive and serve as more than a stepping-stone back to direct negotiations.
After private discussions, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton described Netanyahu’s concessions as “Useful and Productive.”
Following that, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell extended a formal invitation for Netanyahu to meet with US President Barack Obama, which is more than Netanyahu had the last time he visited the US.
I asked Netanyahu’s spokesman, Mark Regev, if he was relieved to get the invite.
“We welcome the invitation,” said Regev.
“But are you relieved?” I pressed.
“I’ll leave that for the columnists,” Responded Regev. “We welcome the invitation