Week in review: Middle East peace process in a 'rut'

Paul Woodward, Online Correspondent

• Last Updated: August 21. 2009 11:55AM UAE / August 21. 2009 7:55AM GMT

While efforts by the Obama administration to reinvigorate the Middle East peace process have yet to yield much progress, the willingness of Israel's prime minister to resist American pressure is boosting his own domestic popularity.

"President Obama said Tuesday that the Middle East peace process was in a 'rut,' and prodded Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to help break an Arab-Israeli standoff that has frustrated the administration's effort to restart talks," the Los Angeles Times reported.

" 'If all sides are willing to move off of the rut that we're in currently, then I think there is an extraordinary opportunity to make real progress,' Obama said in an appearance with Mubarak at the White House. 'But we're not there yet.'

"Obama's comments came at the conclusion of Mubarak's first visit to the White House in more than five years, a meeting that was conceived months ago as part of an ambitious diplomatic push but ended up underscoring the intractability of the issue."

The Washington Post said: "For five months, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been fending off US pressure to halt the expansion of West Bank settlements. Now he is reaping dividends for his defiance.

"Although Israeli leaders have historically been reluctant to publicly break with the United States for fear of paying a price in domestic support, polls show that Netanyahu's strategy is working. And that means that after months of diplomacy, the quick breakthrough that President Obama had hoped would restart peace talks has instead turned into a familiar stalemate.

"Arab states largely have rebuffed Obama's request for an overture to Israel until the settlement issue is resolved - a stand that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak emphasised in a meeting with Obama on Tuesday - and the Palestinians have said a settlement freeze is a precondition for resuming negotiations. Meanwhile, the Israeli public seems to have rallied around Netanyahu's refusal to halt all settlement construction, a backlash that intensified when the Obama administration made clear that it wanted Israel to stop building Jewish homes in some parts of Jerusalem as well as in the occupied West Bank."

The report noted that the Netanyahu government has also been getting support from leading members of Mr Obama's own party.

"Members of Congress praised Netanyahu's first months in office on a recent tour of Israel, and even Obama allies such as House Majority Leader Steny H Hoyer suggested that the onus was on the Palestinians to open talks with or without a settlement freeze.

" 'There have been some very positive things that have happened under Netanyahu, and I think that [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas ought to take the opportunity to engage,' Hoyer said in an interview last week with the Jerusalem Post while on a trip sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobbying group. Despite the administration's concern that construction of Jewish housing in East Jerusalem neighborhoods could prejudge the future boundaries of a city that both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital, Hoyer said Jerusalem 'is a whole,' adding: 'My view is that it will remain whole.' "

Politico reported on how quickly Israelis have become disenchanted with the most influential Jew in the Obama administration: Rahm Emanuel.

"As the Obama administration presses Israel to cease settlement expansion as part of a renewed push for a Middle East peace deal - a course of action that many Israelis have interpreted as evidence of the president's favoritism towards Palestinians - Israelis have increasingly focused their disappointment not on Obama, but rather on his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

"An observant Jew with deep ties to Israel, Emanuel is viewed as something of a native son, his rise through the ranks of American politics celebrated by Israelis who reveled in details such as his childhood summers spent in Israel and his volunteer stint during the first Gulf War in an Israeli military program for civilians.

"When Emanuel was tapped to be Obama's chief of staff, a headline in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz kvelled 'Obama's first pick: Israeli Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff,' while the Jewish news service JTA went with 'Rahm Emanuel: attack dog, policy wonk, committed Jew.'

"But in a dramatic emotional shift, Israelis have become increasingly disenchanted with Emanuel, and the disappointment is especially intense on the Israeli right, which supports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his opposition to Obama's call for ceasing settlement activity."

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported: "Israel has quietly stopped approving new building projects in the West Bank while publicly still refusing US demands for a formal settlement freeze, officials, peace activists and settlers said Tuesday.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office denied there was any agreement among senior ministers to freeze new construction. But settlement watchdog Peace Now said no new building had been approved since Netanyahu took office in March.

"President Barack Obama's administration has been prodding Israel to shelve all settlement construction on land Palestinians want for a future state, a demand Israel has said it cannot accept. The issue has grown into a rare public disagreement between the two close allies.

"However, several government officials said Tuesday that Israel has decided to temporarily stop green-lighting new projects because of the international pressure."

Israel's Ynet said: "Right-wing ministers claim that this policy has been forced upon Israel and undermines the country's sovereignty in areas over which there should not be any dispute.

"Habayit Hayehudi Chairman Daniel Hershkowitz attacked the settlement freeze policy: 'The State of Israel is not a satellite of the US. We have a strategic alliance and close friendly relations with the Americans, but it is a two-way alliance. They need us, too, and we must stand our ground, even more so since the Palestinians show their true face anew each and every time proving that theirs is not a face of peace. As long as this remains the situation in the Middle East, the Americans must halt their pressure on the settlement and not prevent natural growth just as we do not get involved in building in Arizona. The natural growth in Judea and Samaria and the building in the settlement blocs and Jerusalem are a red line that must not be crossed.'

"The ultra-Orthodox sector, which also suffers from a severe housing shortage, also raised claims against the Shas housing minister. According to them, the sector is currently in need of 20,000 housing units, and building in towns such as Beitar Illit could solve the problem, even if only partially.

"Atias suggested that Netanyahu and Barak present the "waiting" tactic to special US Mideast envoy George Mitchell and President Barack Obama as proof of Israel's willingness to advance the peace process."

The Jerusalem Post said: "Mitchell is well aware that the Netanyahu government has not approved any new building starts in the West Bank since taking office on March 31, a senior diplomatic source noted Tuesday, signaling that a de facto settlement freeze has already been in effect for more than four months.

"While the government has not trumpeted this policy, in an apparent effort not to stir up unrest in the coalition, the fact that the government has not approved any new building has been known to 'those who need to know,' one senior diplomatic official said recently.

"The Prime Minister's Office denied reports, however, that there had been any secret agreement on a settlement freeze between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Construction and Housing Minister Ariel Attias."

pwoodward@thenational.ae