By Pinhas Inbari, WJC ANALYSIS –
The re-election of Barack Obama begs the question whether, as he had done in his first term, the US president would focus his attention on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While the resolution of the conflict was high on the administration’s agenda four years ago, that is no longer the case.
Obama II will certainly address the Palestinian issue, but not with the same vigor and determination that characterized the first term.
The president will undoubtedly not abandon the Palestinian issue for it is dear to his heart and personal ideology. Furthermore, Obama has made promises to PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas to give the Palestinian cause serious consideration in exchange for the Palestinians delaying their unilateral bid for statehood at the United Nations.
Moreover, the ongoing election campaign in Israel promises to put the Palestinian problem squarely on the table. Israeli politicians, especially those on the left, expect Obama to pronounce himself on the issue, without, however, going as far as intervening in the election. A silence on his part would be met with raised eyebrows.
However, it is difficult to determine whether the administration’s likely symbolic gestures will transform into concrete foreign policy. When President Obama was first elected, Mahmoud Abbas was the first world leader to receive a phone call from the newly minted president. Obama sealed his support by enabling Abbas to hold the Sixth Fatah Congress in Bethlehem, which was meant to serve as a launching pad for the Palestinian statehood project.
Yet, with the World Bank confirming the Palestinian Authority’s inability to establish viable infrastructure and Fatah’s failure to win in local elections, it is unlikely that the president would risk backing the creation of yet another failed state in the Middle East. At best, Obama may help save the Palestinian Authority from collapse by urging Israel to restrict settlement building, which Israel has already largely limited to big settlement blocks.
The administration is likely to continue its line of opposition to the unilateral creation of a Palestinian state at the UN, as any move in that regard would signify major engagement on the Palestinian front. The unilateral approach would also deprive the administration of the opportunity to serve as a mediator and gain international diplomatic clout.
Most revealingly, President Obama spoke of the need to mend the wounds of the”American family” in his victory speech and therefore focus on America’s domestic needs. With both houses of the US Congress strongly behind Israel, it is hard to imagine that the president would choose to ignore the wide bipartisan support of Israel and indulge his personal desires vis à vis the Palestinians, especially in light of the Middle East’s preoccupation with the post-Arab Spring reality.
I support Arnold Harris comments. The Arab nations must realize that if Israel is to be destroyed, then the whole Middle East will be destroyed as well, including their HOLY cities. Furthermore, the Palestinians should understand that if Israel is to be annilhilated by Chemical; Biological or Nuclear arms – the whole Palestinian population will be destroyed as well…Do they realize that?
Steve
@ Sam Goldblatt:
Maybe Sam you and the other JINOs for Ovomit need to get a brain…
After all, you, Freyman, and a few others would have voted for Hitler were he alive and a Democrat too. For if 20 years hanging out with Jeremiah Wright, and associating and picking up the vibes of anti-Semites didn’t bother you about that piece of crap, nothing will.
Oh, don’t forget to blame Fox or Bush. Trouble is, you can’t blame the truth.
For Freyman and his fellow Ovomit sieg heil brigaders…
The election was won on dirty tactics, lies, and a few other things including cowardice and the stupidity of the young and minority American voters. Your little boy certainly DID NOT win on a failed record, nor did he win on standing firm and helping those who cried for help in Benghazi. Too bad you and Catamarin weren’t there – but then again, you’d probably soil your diapers…Still, it would have been a wake-up call.
But that’s still ahead. Just wait until we run out of money for those entitlements and social programs, or when the Iran Ovomit won’t do a damn thing about detonates their bomb. Then what? Are you going to say Kaddish for Israel, foul up your panties, or blame Bush? Maybe all three.
Ovomit won – but he is still a divider and a failure, not a leader. $4.03 MINIMUM a gallon in L.A. speaks volumes. Those of the Freyman girlieboy and Catamarin varieties had better start opening up their wallets and purses because REAL Middle Class folks like myself are going to be demanding they – and other rich cats who supported the fraud, reverse racist, anti-semite, and lying coward – share the wealth.
Just as he says. And if HE said it, you do it.
The only thing that is certain is that nothing is certain. Only those self appointed experts on this site were predicting thisa and data which ultimately proved to be smoke rings constituting zilch, nada. Only a few years ago we heard predictions of victory in Iraq, Afghanistan,Libya and the demise of the Palestinian movement.
OHMEGOSH- THEY WERE RIGHT ON.
The 70% of Jews voting for Obama were also uninterested in seeing Social Security and Medicare eradicated by Romney and his Wisconsin losing boy wonder Ryan. More than half the Jews in Florida depend on them. What were they supposed to do – become homeless to please Israel?
The land is either Shomron and Yehuda, and therefore the rightful inheritance of the Jewish nation, or it is Falastin, and therefore the rightful inheritance of the Arab nation.
But the land cannot and shall not be both. Shlomo haMelech in ancient times was said to have proved his wisdom for all the ages by awarding an infant to the woman who would rather give up the child to the other claimant. The same applies to the ancient districts of the Jewish nation. Any Jewish government that agrees to partition those lands, along with the Jewish nation that put such scoundrels into power, deserves to lose the entirety of the land. That is exactly the attitude taken by our national enemies of the Arab nation, and as far as I am concerned, they are right in doing so.
So make up your minds. This has nothing to do with Obama, the UNO, the US Departments of State and Defense, or the opinion of all the goyim of this planet. It has everything to you with you, the sons and daughters of the Jewish nation who now make up the Jewish population of the Jewish state. If you are too craven to confront foreign leaders such as Obama, then you will prove too craven to stand up to the attacks that shall one day destroy your commonwealth, after your enemies reduce your lands to siege lines around a few cities which in time will become indefensible.
If it were up to me, I would incinerate the entire Middle East before I would allow that to happen, including the world’s oil supplies, the holy places the enemies of the Jews, everything.
But who am I, other than an old man with neither power nor influence who owes nothing to anyone and is not afraid to speak the truth?
Vote for whomever you wish for the next government of Israel. But just remember that if you weaken the Jewish state beyond a certain yet-undefined point, it will be all over for the lot of you, and no nation will come to your aid.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
This article doesn’t answer any questions, add any new info or suggest any possible solutions to possible scenarios. I would be interested in what actions the GOI would likely take in reaction to Pals applying to UN status and pals being granted their application. Anybody with an ear in on the possible scenarios? I find the Israeli electorate relation to govt really strange, as if everyone expects the govt to unilaterally dictate solutions without input from the citizens as if manna from heaven. I see very few Israeli articles from politicians with specific reactions postulated, with or without obama.
@ Alan:
Alan I see you have recovered, I thought you might take your defeat so hard you would do something positive like hide. 1 week hardly seems sufficient. Catarin I’ve noticed is missing as well.
The trouble is, the Dems are NOT “solidly” behind Israel as they once were…Besides the returning Sherrod Brown and Raul Grijalva, you have diehard Israel-haters like Tommy – Tammy Baldwin and Pascrell, who openly solicited Palestinian aka CAIR votes. The scum of the earth is coming to Congress, no doubt in great part to STUPID JINOs who put the Gays and Reproductive rights above a secure and safe Israel, those who’d vote for Hitler were he alive – and a Democrat.
Obama is the first radical left ideologue to appoint two Wall Street guys Timothy Geithner, and Lawrence Summers as his top economic advisors. Also the first radical left ideologue to bail out big banks and Goldman Sachs to the tune of billions. Maybe Laura should move to Boulder, Colorado where she can get her pot and hash at Starbucks and smoke all day as types her dopey lies.
The very best that we can hope for is that Obama decides to stay the hell away from the issue entirely.The last thing in this world that Israel needs is for Obama to go prancing back in there in order to put Israel into some sort-of headlock for the purpose of extracting concessions in order to placate dictator Abbas.Obama can do no good on this issue.He should stay away from it, for the sake of Jewish people everywhere.
Most revealingly, President Obama spoke of the need to mend the wounds of the”American family” in his victory speech and therefore focus on America’s domestic needs. With both houses of the US Congress strongly behind Israel, it is hard to imagine that the president would choose to ignore the wide bipartisan support of Israel and indulge his personal desires vis à vis the Palestinians, especially in light of the Middle East’s preoccupation with the post-Arab Spring reality.
The writer is delusional as is most of the punditocracy. Since when does how the majority of Americans feel factor into Obama’s policy decisions? Obama is a radical left ideologue who believes Israel is illegimate. Yet there is still this view amongst the chattering classes that Obama will move to the center despite having governed as a leftist in his first term and despite having no reelection to worry about now.