Netanyahu Swimming Upstream After Iran's Diplomatic Flurry
US President Barack Obama, Palestinian President Abu Mazen and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's told the UN: Israel must compromise on Palestine, while Iran compromises on its nuclear program.
The most important speech delivered so far at the current session of the UN General Assembly in New York was the one by US President Barack Obama on Sept. 24. Obama’s tone was measured and levelheaded, and he did not get dragged into wrangling over credits and arguing about “who won” in the battle over Syria — Russian President Vladimir Putin or himself. But the speech also contained dramatic news: the return of the formula — which emerged and made headlines during Obama’s first term but dissipated shortly thereafter — “Bushehr for [Jewish settlement] Yitzhar.” That is how we described it then, on the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first meeting with Obama at the beginning of 2009. The deal was simple. It was dictated by the Americans: We will deal with Iran, you take care of the Palestinians. The United States will rein in the Iranian nuke, Israel will stop building settlements and work toward the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Obama’s policy failed dismally and disappeared. The peace process was stalled for four long years and dropped off the agenda. And now Obama is back, with a speech designed to define his second and last term, with the same equation: There are two subjects on the agenda, the Iranian and the Palestinian; the United States will deal with both in tandem, and it expects all sides to cooperate, including Israel.
What happened to all the talk about focusing on China and India, on Southeast Asia, on domestic issues. Or the talk about a “loss of interest” in the Middle East, in general, and Israel-Palestine, in particular?
Obama’s speech intensified the nervousness of Israel’s right wing, which is organizing to confront Netanyahu. In October, a first conference will be held in Tel Aviv of all the political and non-political movements opposed to negotiations with the Palestinians. Knesset members and deputy ministers from the Likud Party will be invited as well as right-wing ministers from the ruling coalition. Netanyahu has a state that will accompany him toward peace with the Palestinians, but he does not have a party.
