T. Belman. I find this article very disturbing. There is too much give and take. The more they allow us the more it will cost us. There is too much of a desire by Israel to get along. I’d rather see more backbone and independence. Nothing good will come of this.
New government managed to delay reopening of consulate for Palestinians, and slack from Washington could extend to other contentious issues, but power dynamic goes both ways
By JACOB MAGID, TOI
NEW YORK — The Biden administration’s decision to delay its plan to reopen a Jerusalem consulate for the Palestinians, at Israel’s behest, has exposed a unique dynamic in the relationship between the world superpower and its Mideast ally.
Despite the apparent power imbalance, US President Joe Biden has agreed to shelve a policy goal and delay fulfilling a campaign promise for almost half a year in order to avoid destabilizing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s politically diverse coalition as it seeks to coalesce.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken notified Jerusalem in May of Washington’s intention to reopen the de facto mission to the Palestinians, so waiting until after the new Israeli government passes a budget, as the US has agreed to do, would mean putting off the matter until November, at the earliest.
“The Biden administration has an interest in this government getting off to a smooth start and stabilizing in its early months,” said one former US official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “It’s understandable that it would be open to requests to not do things or raise issues in the early stages that might be a source of tension for the new Israeli government.”
But the former official also cautioned against overstating the significance of the situation, suggesting it would be better characterized as a “prioritization of interests” than leverage.
This Monday, March 4, 2019 photo shows the United States consulate building in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
“If the consulate moves in November instead of August, that’s not such a big deal, whereas helping the Israeli government get through the budget passing period carries much more weight,” the former official said.
Ilan Goldenberg, who served as chief of staff to the State Department’s special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations during the Obama administration, agreed that Bennett’s government has leverage “on big public moves that could be politically controversial.”
The US “sees the new government as an opportunity to move beyond what’s been a pretty destructive approach by Benjamin Netanyahu, both in terms of the Israeli-US relationship and the health of Israeli governing institutions, so there’s a desire not to rock the boat too much,” he said.
Washington is also unlikely to challenge the new Israeli government over how it responds to attacks from Gaza, a former Obama-era official familiar with the current administration’s thinking speculated. The former official said there’s recognition in Washington that Bennett will want to respond more forcefully to rocket fire, and even the launching of incendiary balloons, than his predecessor Netanyahu did and that the US may have to bite its tongue, despite concerns that Israel’s aggressiveness could lead to another deadly flare-up in Gaza.
The Israeli impression based on recent talks with the Biden administration is that the US recognizes it cannot push Jerusalem to take major steps vis-à-vis the Palestinians that would risk collapsing the broad coalition, Israeli officials told The Times of Israel last month.
Biden officials have indeed repeatedly stressed that they are not seeking to restart high-level negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on final status issues, and instead prefer smaller, more tangible steps to ensure “equal measures of safety, of security, of prosperity, and importantly, of dignity” for both peoples.
Leverage is a two-way street
In the context of such smaller gestures that Israel can take toward the Palestinians, the US retains its traditional leverage over the Jewish state, Goldenberg argued.
On those issues, “the US has the ability to say [to the Bennett government], ‘You promised things would be different. We’re going to give you some space, but you have to give us something in return,’” he said.
Moreover, Goldenberg noted that such pressure would also be coming from within the Israeli coalition, where senior members from almost every party have spoken of their interest in improving ties with the Palestinians and “shrinking the conflict.”
“That becomes leverage that the US can use to demand improvements to Palestinian lives on things like economic assistance, freedom of movement, permits and policing — all matters that can be addressed quietly,” he said.
An Israeli official told The Times of Israel that Defense Minister Benny Gantz has presented Biden administration officials with a list of initiatives his office hopes to implement in order to strengthen the PA, though many of them will require a nod from the more hawkish Bennett.
“The new Israeli government is also keen to get off on the right footing with the US administration and ensure a more bipartisan relationship than existed under Netanyahu,” said Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen, who heads the US Institute of Peace’s Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Program.
Still, it’s not as if the relationship has been devoid of disagreements since Bennett took office in June. In the past month and a half, the US has spoken out against the establishment of a new Israeli outpost in the West Bank and was particularly critical of the Israel Defense Forces’ punitive demolition of the family home of an alleged Palestinian attacker.
Moreover, the Biden administration hasn’t altogether forgone its plan to reopen the consulate. “Implicit in the ‘don’t bug us before November’ message from the Israelis is an understanding that they’ll do it afterward,” said the former Obama official familiar with the current administration’s thinking.
As one official from Bennett’s Yamina party part put it, the new government is “determined to prevent pinpointed disagreements from impacting bilateral ties more broadly.”
What’s clear is that the dynamic between the two administrations is one of much more give and take.
No one in Washington is responding to Israeli concerns with “Who’s the fucking superpower here?” as former president Bill Clinton did after hearing out then-prime minister Netanyahu, according to Aaron David Miller’s book “The Much Too Promised Land.”
But Kurtzer-Ellenbogen argued that the more cautious US approach taking internal Israeli politics into account is “not necessarily without expiration date.”
“For now, the interests of all parties toward stability and in favor of longer term interests are seemingly holding sway and dictating strategic patience,” she said.
@Edgar
Exactly correct. Never forget this. Biden is the hand puppet meant to distract the world while the Obama crew carry out their agenda, but it is not Biden’s agenda, not that he has an agenda. Did anyone see the clips from his town hall? And I really don’t care which one you watch, there is no there there. No, he is instructing nothing.
A “delay” of 6 months is a mere nothing, a limp “victory” (ephemeral) for Bennett, and since Biden is determined to open Orient House for the Arabs, he’ll do it. just at a time more convenient for Bennett…maybe..perhaps when everyone is on vacation…???
We talk of Biden, but it is Not Biden it’s his handlers, who make the policies and they are almost uniformly Israel Haters, expecially the Biden Jews who want o show the Goyim they’re more American than the AMericans…the galut syndrome, worse than ever. because they are prominent people..
Israel should not allow itself to be bullied around. Unfortunately the present government is weak and appears ready to cave into the demands of big brother.
These short term steps towards minimizing the damage that this policy that
belies the reality that these two nations have very different goals in mind for Israel’s future. This policy of timid negotiations is in itself a large concession towards the US standards. Bibi’s policy asserted a clear statement as to the distinction between these goals and mobilized the allies within the US power base toward influencing the American policy, and he did so when the Democrats were in a much less tentative position than they hold today – ie the current US administration is vulnerable and needs to focus all domestic policy on opposing the election challenges. Bibi’s assertive policy had an impact and likely would have been more successful had Bennett and Lapid not pulled the US fat out of the fire while undermining Israel’s position. This current policy of lets get along and work with a mind towards not publicly rocking the boat ignores that fact the boat that everyone is trying to steady is the American boat at the cost of Israel’s sovereignty. This approach succeeds in helping Bennett maintain his coalition for a time and helps the Obama crew focus upon their legitimacy issues, but it does not help Israel to have accepted an understanding that the die is cast and we will announce this after this America First govt becomes stabilized with its budget passage. Every govt moves towards the fulfillment of their continued existence, but this bargain has only been delayed when it should have been opposed, and this was not done due to the weaknesses within the Bennett’s govt, ie most of them support the measure. It is, of course, good that an agreement of such things was not made now, but it has not openly been challenged now when real weakness lies within the US. At a later date, the US administration might be more weakened, but it might also be much less so as well. So, lets hope Trump returns to office soon enough that the challenges within the Bennett govt are not more fully exposed and manipulated toward enacting this understanding that the Americans, at least are aware has been adopted.