The Israeli-Palestinian peace process is all-but stalled one year into the Obama Administration, exposing frustrations from all relevant parties, including high-ranking White House officials. And those officials include, yes, President Barack Obama himself who declared somewhat of a mea culpa regarding non-existent negotiations.
In a recent interview with Time magazine, Obama expressed frustration on the peace process, attributing delays to both Israeli and Palestinian inability to make broad concessions. The Palestinian Authority faces internal opposition from Hamas and the prospect of losing additional support to the terror organization. Similarly, the Israeli government could potentially lose its coalition, with right-wing parties fleeing the unity government over the settlements issue.
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel reportedly expressed these concerns late last year, pinning the blame on both parties as a prelude to Obama’s comments.
At the outset of this administration, Obama appointed Ambassador George Mitchell to serve as a special envoy to the region. He has exuded the notion of shuttle diplomacy, making regular trips throughout the region.
Similarly, the administration attempted to pressure Israel to halt all settlement activity and only managed, after months of being rebuffed, to obtain a temporary and partial settlement freeze.
Obama also called on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas to meet at the United Nations last year, with both officials hesitating and only complying with the request following a major face-saving push by White House staff.
Regardless of all these efforts, the administration obtained minimal successes and Obama places some of the blame on his own shoulders, saying “I think that we overestimated our ability to persuade them to do so when their politics ran contrary to that,” referring to domestic pressure in Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip opposing negotiations.
Middle East peace negotiations have failed repeatedly in previous administrations, with former presidents expending varying degrees of effort to conclude the seemingly endless conflict. Failure in this realm is nothing new and success is still attainable, but the status quo does not indicate the conflict’s culmination any time soon.
The Israeli public has largely dismissed the Obama administration as biased towards Palestinians while the PA has expressed frustrations over failed White House efforts to force Israeli concessions, particularly regarding the settlement freeze.
Obama’s right. The Israelis and Palestinians have both dragged their feet. But, Obama is also right that the administration has been just as ineffective in mandating change, and it has expended quite a bit of effort, clout, and political capital in the process.
Photo taken from here.