The Obama administration responded twice on the Middle East peace process, a day after the State of the Union that omitted any reference to Israel, the Palestinians or the peace negotiations, an issue the administration has spent considerable effort and time on over the last year. A state department spokesperson was asked about the omission and President Barack Obama fielded a question about Israel and the Palestinians at an unrelated town hall event today.
Directly asked about the omission, a State Department spokesman dismissed speculation that the oversight reflected a down-grading of the prioritizing the peace process and said:
QUESTION: How come the President didn’t mention the Middle East peace process in the speech or the Middle East?
MR. CROWLEY: I would say that he – it is a priority. It’s a commitment that we’ve made from the outset. I think he did talk last night about the importance that we’ve attached to engagement on a wide range of issues. So whether it was explicit or not, I think it was implicit in his words that we are working aggressively with our partners around the world on a range of issues. The Middle East peace process is one and the meetings that the Secretary had on the margins of the Afghanistan conference today reinforces the importance that we attach to Middle East peace.
But this is one of a number of issues, whether its climate change, which he mentioned, whether it’s Afghanistan and Pakistan, which he mentioned, the fact that the Secretary is there, committed to working with international partners on progress in Yemen, on our strategy with respect to Afghanistan. We are committed to resolving the sources of conflict that impede the world from moving forward in a peaceful and prosperous way.
So there were a number of issues that he talked about directly. It was a 71-minute speech. So in any State of the Union address, you address many priorities; you don’t necessarily present a comprehensive list.
Similarly, the first question and answer at the Obama town hall focused on Israeli actions towards the Palestinians, particularly with the blockade on the Gaza Strip. The exchange went:
Q My question is, last night in your State of the Union address you
spoke of America’s support for human rights. Then why have we not
condemned Israel and Egypt’s human rights violations against the
occupied Palestinian people and yet we continue to support financially
with billions of dollars coming from our tax dollars?AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, now, everybody has got to be courteous, everybody is answering the question.
Let me just talk about the Middle East generally. Look — all right, everybody, come on, come on, hold on. Hold on one second, I’ve got to answer my question first, sir. Okay. I know you got — what, you got some beads on — are those New Orleans beads? Okay.
Look, look, look, the Middle East is obviously an issue that has plagued the region for centuries. And it’s an issue that elicits a lot of passions, as you heard.
Here’s my view. Israel is one of our strongest allies. It has — (applause.) Let me just play this out. It is a vibrant democracy. It shares links with us in all sorts of ways. It is critical for us and I will never waver from ensuring Israel’s security and helping them secure themselves in what is a very hostile region. (Applause.)
So I make no apologies for that.What is also true is that the plight of the Palestinians is something that we have to pay attention to, because it is not good for our security and it is not good for Israel’s security if you’ve got millions of individuals who feel hopeless, who don’t have an opportunity to get an education or get a job or what have you.
Now, the history of there is long and I don’t have time to go through the grievances of both sides in the issue. What I have said and what we did from the beginning when I came into office is to say we are seeking a two-state solution in which Israel and the Palestinians can live side by side in peace and security. (Applause.)
In order to do that both sides are going to have to make compromises.
(Applause.)As a first step, the Palestinians have to unequivocally renounce violence and recognize Israel. (Applause.) And Israel has to acknowledge legitimate grievances and interests of the Palestinians.
We know what a solution could look like in the region, but here’s the problem that we’re confronting right now, is that both in Israel and within the Palestinian Territories, the politics are difficult; they’re divided. The Israel government came in based on the support of a lot of folks who don’t want to make a lot of concessions. I think Prime Minister Netanyahu is actually making some effort to try to move a little bit further than his coalition wants him to go. On the other hand, President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, who I think genuinely wants peace, has to deal with Hamas, an organization that has not recognized Israel and has not disavowed violence.
And so we are working to try to strengthen the ability of both parties to sit down across the table and to begin serious negotiations. And I think that it’s important when we’re talking about this issue to make sure that we don’t just knee-jerk, use language that is inflammatory or in some fashion discourages the possibility of negotiation. We’ve got to recognize that both the Palestinian people and Israelis have legitimate aspirations and they can be best served if the United States is helping them understand each other, as opposed to demonizing each other.
