Washington, Europe will wait to see if Bibi stays or goes
Until the March 2015 elections in Israel, the United States and Europe will attempt to balance nonintervention and expressing policy positions relevant to the Palestinian issue.
A source in the White House National Security Council told Al-Monitor, "The administration is carefully watching the Israeli elections but is committed not to be seen as interfering in them."
The Barack Obama administration's view of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is well known. The mutual suspicion between the Oval Office in Washington and the premier's residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem is probably without precedent. Washington would prefer to see a more moderate government in Jerusalem after March 17, but it will keep its preference to itself. Aaron David Miller, vice president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center, told Al-Monitor that the mood is one of "ABBB — anybody but Bibi [Netanyahu]."
According to the White House source, any intervention would backfire and strengthen the Israeli right. And yet, this official and other administration officials are now contemplating US-Middle East policy until mid-March, regarding issues that cannot be postponed, such as the debate over a UN Security Council resolution on renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the prevention of violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank, settlement construction and the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip.
These issues are also on the agenda of the leading EU powers — Great Britain, Germany and France. If London, Berlin and Paris could have it their way, Netanyahu would not be the next Israeli prime minister. The European powers, much like the Americans, will be attempting a balancing act between nonintervention and expressing policy positions relevant to the Palestinian issue.
