Occupied Jerusalem: US President Barack Obama said in a rare interview with an Israeli television station he thought it may be possible to achieve a Middle East peace deal in the next few years and urged Israel to seize the chance.
"We probably won't have a better opportunity than we have right now. And that has to be seized," Obama told Channel 2 television in remarks broadcast on Thursday, two days after his talks at the White House with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But Netanyahu, speaking in New York, signalled Israel was not prepared to extend a partial freeze on Jewish colony building in occupied land that could help coax Palestinians to launch the talks Obama wants to convene by September.
"I think we've done enough. Let's get on with the talks," Netanyahu told the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank, when asked about the limited Israeli building hiatus due to expire in two months time.
Obama characterised Tuesday's 80-minute meeting with the Israeli leader at which he called on both Israel and the Palestinians to resume direct negotiations, rather than the current indirect track mediated by Washington, as "excellent".
Optimism
Asked if he thought an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal could be reached during his term in office, which would expire in 2013, Obama replied: "I think so."
He thought the process would be "wrenching. It's going to be difficult." But he said: "The fact that he [Netanyahu] is not perceived as a dove, in some ways can be helpful," in bringing together right- and left-wing Israelis behind a deal. Obama said of Netanyahu: "I think he is somebody who understands that we've got a fairly narrow window of opportunity,"while moderate Palestinians, President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad were in power.
Israelis and Palestinians have held indirect contacts since May, mediated by Obama's Middle East envoy Senator George Mitchell, that have made only limited progress toward reaching Washington's goal of a two-state solution of the conflict.
In his remarks in New York at the end of a three-day visit, Netanyahu also said Israel and the Palestinians "should seize the moment" and launch direct negotiations. But the Israeli leader gave no indication he would meet Palestinian demands to renew the talks that ran aground in late 2008.
Asked whether he would press Netanyahu to renew at least a partial colony building freeze, Obama replied: "What I want is for us to get into direct talks," adding that such a channel "builds trust. And trust allows for both sides to not be so jumpy or paranoid about every single move that's being made."
Iran issue: It is unlikely Israel will surprise US, Obama says
US President Barack Obama said it is highly unlikely the Jewish state would surprise Washington with an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
"It is unacceptable for Iran to posses nuclear weapons and we are going to do everything we can to prevent that happening," Obama told Israel's Channel 2 television in the interview."I think the relationship between the US and Israel is sufficiently strong that neither of us try to surprise each other," he said, when asked if he was concerned Israel could catch the US off guard with an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. "We try to coordinate on issues of mutual concern and that approach is one Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu is committed to," Obama said.
- AFP
Do you think Netanyahu's latest comments are anything more than lip service? What do you think is a realistic solution to the issue?
