About three months ago, it appeared that US President Barack Obama had acquiesced to Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu. However, the announcement by the Israeli Ministry of Internal Affairs during the US Vice President Joe Biden's visit, regarding their intention to build 1,600 colony units in occupied east Jerusalem, turned the situation upside-down, as was reflected in Netanyahu's reception by the American president in Washington.
Netanyahu has consistently refused to respond positively to American demands regarding colonies and a two-state solution. Instead, the Israeli leader has sought the help of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a strong Jewish pressure group. In his speech there, a few hours after US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's warning about the ramifications of continued colony expansion for both Washington and Tel Aviv, Netanyahu repeated his refusal to stop building in occupied Jerusalem, a city that he considers the capital of Israel. AIPAC's meeting was attended by thousands of Zionist Jews, together with 300 members of Congress.
Thereafter, when Netanyahu visited Obama at the White House, he was presented with 13 demands. When he stalled, Obama told him he would be having dinner with his family and was ready to talk when Netanyahu was.
Growing influence
Analysts' surprise at this development was mitigated by the rise of another Jewish Lobby group, J-Street, which calls for a two-state solution, with occupied Jerusalem as a capital of both states, and advocates dialogue with Hamas. However, AIPAC remains the strongest Jewish pressure group and blindly supports the whims of the Israeli leaders.
If the strong stand taken by Obama is not entirely new, what is new is his insistence on solving the Arab-Israeli conflict, considered the source of instability in the region. This problem is also strong factor behind Obama's inability to realise his promised policy of turning over a new leaf with the Arab and Muslim worlds, despite the support he has received from some of his military leaders, such as Defence Secretary Robert Gates, General James Johns, Admiral Mike Mullen and General David Petraeus. In his capacity as the chief of the US Central Command, Petraeus told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that "Israeli-Palestinian tensions often flare into violence and large-scale armed confrontations ... The conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of US favouritism for Israel". This was unprecedented and has been reiterated by other prominent political leaders and journalists.
For its part, Israel thinks that the problem lies within the White House, and it is seeking help from non-Jewish Zionists in Congress. When Obama described the Arab-Israeli conflict as a great obstacle to American interests, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a supporter of Israel, claimed that Obama harbours dangerous thoughts. The World Jewish Congress joined the ADL in urging Obama not to blame Israel for US failure elsewhere.
In an article entitled ‘Who supports Israel?', Shmuel Rosner wrote that Danny Ayalon, Israeli deputy foreign minister, had agreed to meet members of the Congress but only as long as they were not accompanied by members of J-Street. This is because the foreign ministry believes that the government can only embrace J-Street once it has understood the rules of the game — in other words, J-Street must not overstep the limits in its criticism of Israel.
In his article, ‘A Crisis with the USA and a Relief at AIPAC', Yossi Beilin wrote that a crowd of 10,000 had gathered to listen to the repeated motto that occupied Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, which remains a good friend of the US, despite any differences in opinion. He added that this great tribute was followed by much hugging and an endless standing ovation. Year after year, he said, AIPAC counts the number of attending Congress members — this time there were 60 — and the number of deputies, which were too numerous to count. To everyone's relief, he said, AIPAC is still alive. All this in spite of the crisis and the harsh words uttered in Washington and occupied Jerusalem, in spite of Petraeus' speech, in spite of J-Street, which offers a liberal and moderate alternative to AIPAC's right-wing policy and in spite of the increasing criticism of that organisation inside and outside the American Jewish community.
Lobbying
On its part, The Guardian, together with other important world papers, said that AIPAC has urged its supporters in Congress to pressure the White House with the purpose of pushing Obama and his administration team "to mitigate their hard positions regarding [colony] policy". The idea was to create a public impression that the position taken by the administration regarding colony construction in occupied Jerusalem is not approved by Congress and that numerous American officials share the position of the Israeli government.
J-Street's rise to prominence reflects the American-Jewish conflict with the policies followed by Israel, which are formulated with no understanding of the change of climate in Washington. Netanyahu has described J-Street as anti-Israeli. The reality is that AIPAC and Israel's friends in the two houses of Congress are blindly pro-Israel, while J-Street is an open-minded pressure-group.
In his efforts to bring peace to Palestine, Obama now has the support of the US military, whereas the Jewish lobby in America is split between extremists and moderates. This should increase his chances of success.
Professor As'ad Abdul Rahman is the chairman of the Palestinian Encyclopaedia.
