Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for “two states for two peoples” in a speech to the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organisations in Jerusalem Monday, as he insisted that in order to achieve internationally-sought peace in the Middle East, both sides “have to negotiate in good faith”.
Slamming Palestinian preconditions for peace for having stalled the resumption of negotiations which have lain dormant since 2010, he added that “my hope is that they leave these preconditions aside and get to the negotiating table so we don’t waste another four years”.
Addressing luminaries including US Ambassador Dan Shapiro and his French counterpart Christophe Bigot, he extrapolated at length on the three greatest external challenges Israel faces at its borders, ahead of US President Barack Obama’s imminent Spring visit to the Jewish State. As well as the pursuit of Middle East peace, he characterised these common concerns as the Iranian nuclear programme and the threat of Syrian chemical weaponry, which he insisted “can change the balance of power in the Middle East”, invoking Israel’s often-stated fears that Syrian weapons were being used to arm Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, as he vowed “we will not sit idly by and let those weapons fall in the hands of terrorists”.
Both Israel and close ally the US designate Hezbollah a terrorist organisation, in contrast to the EU’s continued refusal to do so due to the position its political arm occupies in the governing coalition, however the allies will be hoping this is set to for review after Bulgarian authorities last week concluded in an official report that the group was behind a deadly terrorist attack on Israeli tourists in the Bulgarian town of Burgas last July.
On the subject of Iran, Netanyahu cautioned that whilst its weapons development programme “continues unabated2, his renowned red line he laid out at last September’s UN General Assembly had yet to e crossed, although “what they’re doing is to shorten the time that it will take them to cross that line”.
Taking an apparently softer stance on the issue of a much-touted Israeli pre-emptive strike on the Islamic regime, amidst widespread reports that Obama will use his visit to warn against taking such an approach, the Premier added that the only way of addressing and preventing an escalation of the Iranian threat is by “upgrading sanctions. And they have to know that if the sanctions and diplomacy fails, they will face incredible military threat”.
Netanyahu paid significant focus to the US President’s visit, the first since he entered office following the 2008 presidential elections, having previously visited as part of his campaign trail that year, as he sought to dispel persistent rumours of an ideological rift between the two leaders.
Describing the tour, which will see Obama take in former assassinated Israeli leader Yitzchak Rabin’s grave as the US and its western allies hope to finally realise his uncompleted legacy of peace, as “a wonderful opportunity to reaffirm the strategic relationship between Israel and the United States”, he continued to pay tribute to their historic “great alliance”.
Speaking of the bilateral cooperation he had undertaken with Obama, he insisted it was “closer than perhaps meets the eye and that people know here except a few people who are in this hall”, as he heralded their mutual cooperation across the fields of security, diplomacy and intelligence.
“But that relationship is one of mutual values, mutual benefit, and when you look at the Middle East, when you look at this area and see the great power of freedom of the United States, looking at this area you see the swirling sands of the Middle East and there is one solid, reliable ally of the United States, and that is the State of Israel. I think that’s become more apparent than ever, and it also must be apparent to you that when we look around the world we see one great friend, one great ally – the United States of America,” he concluded.
Also addressing the conference Monday was Israeli President Shimon Peres, who has attracted criticism, particularly from within Netanyahu’s own right-wing ruling Likud Beiteinu party for overstepping the bounds of his largely ceremonial role in openly speaking out in support of close ally Obama and insisting that Israel “cannot go it alone” on the Iran issue. Whilst conceding that the world looked to the US for guidance and leadership on the response to the Iranian threat, “Israel is the candidate at the top of the list to meet the consequences of Iranian policy”.
Leaving little doubt that the Iranian issue would feature highly on the list of topics for discussion during the course of his American counterpart Jerusalem state visit, he added that the US would act in the interests of not only its own people and it ally Israel, “but because of security in our times”.
In an echo of his remarks on Obama’s re-election last November, he said he believed Obama could help “open a new chapter” in the Middle East Peace Process, as he cautiously expressed optimism for the renewal of negotiations, adding: “In spite of our differences, we want to live in peace. I don’t expect this to happen in one visit, but it will be a beginning.”
The gathering of American leaders was the 39th annual visit to Israel by the Conference of Presidents. Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the organization, said that the group’s concerns were American-Israeli relations; Israel’s security; unity and divisiveness in Jerusalem; how to overcome the deterioration in Israel-Diaspora relations; changes in the Middle East; the geopolitical issues of the Jewish People; Israel’s new social agenda; problems vis-avis illegal migrants to the Jewish state; and Israel’s hi-tech industry.