Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting on February 16, 2014 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/POOL/Flash90)
Posted on 03/02/2014 5:47:53 PM PST by Ooh-Ah
Ahead of meeting with Netanyahu, president says unprecedented ‘aggressive settlement construction’ detrimental to peace process
Israel can expect to face international isolation and possible sanctions from countries and companies across the world if Benjamin Netanyahu fails to endorse a framework agreement with the Palestinians, US President Barack Obama cautioned on Sunday ahead of a meeting with the Israeli prime minister.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Obama stressed that time was running out for Israel to achieve a peace deal, and added that he believed Netanyahu had the capacity to rally Israel’s citizens behind an agreement.
But if Netanyahu “does not believe that a peace deal with the Palestinians is the right thing to do for Israel, then he needs to articulate an alternative approach,” Obama said.
“There comes a point where you can’t manage this anymore, and then you start having to make very difficult choices,” he said.
The president went on to stress that he would convey to Netanyahu, in the spirit of the Jewish sage Hillel the Elder, that the prime minister could lead Israel toward peace if he chose to do so.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the weekly cabinet meeting on February 16, 2014 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/POOL/Flash90)
“If not now, when? And if not you, Mr. Prime Minister, then who?” Obama said.
The president went on to condemn in no uncertain terms Israel’s settlement activities in the West Bank, and said that though his allegiance to the Jewish state was permanent, building settlements across the Green Line was counterproductive and would make it extremely difficult for the US to defend Israel from painful repercussions in the international community.
“If you see no peace deal and continued aggressive settlement construction — and we have seen more aggressive settlement construction over the last couple years than we’ve seen in a very long time — if Palestinians come to believe that the possibility of a contiguous sovereign Palestinian state is no longer within reach, then our ability to manage the international fallout is going to be limited,” Obama said.
The president added that Israel must come to a decision over its future character and weigh whether its current policies are conducive to achieving its true aspirations.
“Do you resign yourself to what amounts to a permanent occupation of the West Bank?” he inquired of the Israeli public.
“Is that the character of Israel as a state for a long period of time? Do you perpetuate, over the course of a decade or two decades, more and more restrictive policies in terms of Palestinian movement? Do you place restrictions on Arab Israelis in ways that run counter to Israel’s traditions?” he asked.
Obama further stated that in his opinion, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “has proven himself to be somebody who has been committed to nonviolence and diplomatic efforts to resolve” the conflict.
US Secretary of State John Kerry (right) and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas speak with the press after a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, June 2013. (photo credit: Issam Rimawi/Flash90)
“We do not know what a successor to Abbas will look like,” he added.
Asked whether he felt Abbas was sincere about his willingness to recognize Israel and its right to exist, the president replied that he was sure that was the case.
“I think that this is a rare quality not just within the Palestinian territories, but in the Middle East generally,” Obama said of the Palestinian leader. ”For us not to seize that opportunity would be a mistake.”
Netanyahu left for Washington Sunday for talks about the US-led peace process and nuclear negotiations between world powers and Iran.
Although Netanyahu would like the conversation with Obama to focus primarily on Iran, the White House appears to have a different agenda.
“Obama will press him to agree to a framework for a conclusive round of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations that is being drafted by Secretary of State John Kerry,” The New York Times quoted senior US officials as saying last week.
Direct peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, which began last July with the goal of reaching a deal within nine months, have made no visible progress.
Kerry is now focused on getting the two sides to agree on a framework proposal which would extend the deadline until the year’s end.
Although the document has not yet been made public, it is understood to be a non-binding proposal laying out guidelines for negotiating the central issues of the conflict, such as borders, security, Jerusalem, Israeli settlements and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
The proposal, or its outline, is likely to be presented to Netanyahu this week and to Abbas on March 17 when he meets Obama at the White House.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;....
Nice country you have here, Mr. Netanyahu. Be a shame if anything happened to it.
Obama is incapable of following through on his red lines with the exception of one. Israel. He will follow through on that one as he hates Israel (being a closet Muzzie), and wants to see her brought to her knees. The only thing that stands between that piece of crap Kerry and his quest for a Nobel Peace Prize at Israel’s expense, is Bibi. Bibi will have to play his cards very carefully to stall off the Obama Regime and his fascist thugs for 3 more years. I pray Bibi is as good as I think he is at rope-a-dope, because that is the kind of fight he will have to put up to outlast Obama’s term of office. Unless Obama gets impeached before his term is up. He definitely deserves to be, for both corruption and for exceeding his constitutional powers. Fie on him and his minions.
These aren’t peace talks. They’re destruction talks. America will be divided just as we divide Israel. Wait and see. Won’t be long now. April is Kerry’s deadline? LOL.
J-10 Chinese fighter which is a Lavi clone.
***Interesting. First I’ve heard of it. I often find myself admiring those bass turds. God will take care of Israel. No doubt. He promises it in His word.
Obama is a “vile obomination” to free men everywhere.
But, then again, he is doing what a communist/marxist does, sell out freedom and freedom fighters to his soulmates, with one exception. Putin. He has no soul so his relationship with Mr. KGB is on another level, one of pure evil envy.
Obama envies Putin’s ability to be evil and get away with it. No pesky House of Representatives to deal with. No Sen. Ted Cruz, or Saral Palin. No Benghazi, IRS, FCC, SEC, EPA or any other kind of probe of his crime deeds.
No Fox News TV Cable Channel with intelligence people who know the Russians and call Obama on surrendering to them.
Saul Alinsky and other reds taught Obama well.
We are now reaping those seeds of communism planted so long ago.
this also crashes the monetary system and forces the welfare class to work or starve, the people then tar and feather the Federal Reserve slave masters and form a legitimate monetary system
then we start over forming a new government based on the original constitution, after electing qualified people with functional brains [/dream]
We won’t be able to defend Israel, but if any country run by the raghead bro’hood, Obama won’t be able to move fast enough to send troops or OUR money there.
Notice how Japan holds a trillion in US T-Bills as a friendly gesture.....To pay for the US defense umbrella shielding them from China. This is how it works though we all know JugEars might not live up to our part of the bargain
And now he makes threats against Israel...
I don’t have the vocabulary to express the extent of my contempt for him and his supporters/enablers . . .
Well, maybe I do have the vocabulary, but I have tried to clean those words from my thoughts and speech.
Obama and Liberals are doing everything to bring Israel AND America to RUIN!!!
THAT needs to be on EVRY THREAD!!!!! Please...
« How can I curse whom ‘’ has not cursed, and how can I invoke wrath if the Lord has not been angered? For from their beginning, I see them as mountain peaks, and I behold them as hills; it is a nation that will dwell alone, and will not be reckoned among the nations. » [someone named Balaam]
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+1%3A20-33&version=NIV
Proverbs 1:20-33
New International Version (NIV)
Wisdom’s Rebuke
20 Out in the open wisdom calls aloud,
she raises her voice in the public square;
21 on top of the wall[a] she cries out,
at the city gate she makes her speech:
22 “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?
23 Repent at my rebuke!
Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
I will make known to you my teachings.
24 But since you refuse to listen when I call
and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand,
25 since you disregard all my advice
and do not accept my rebuke,
26 I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you;
I will mock when calamity overtakes you—
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
28 “Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me,
29 since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the Lord.
30 Since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke,
31 they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm.”
A terrible price will be paid for the mistreatment of Israel. God is still God and man who deems himself powerful will soon find that out.
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