The Obama administration wants to resolve the conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis and Israel is concerned about Iran. Israel seems ready to drop bombs on Iran anytime the world is ready, sort of what we did in Iraq, but we did that ready or not.
The White House says it's the beginning of a long process and wants to deal with Iran in a diplomatic fashion.
Here's the beef:
Netanyahu will argue that Washington's goals are best achieved if it gives priority to curbing Iran's nuclear and geopolitical ambitions before separating Israel from the Palestinians. He claims his Arab neighbors agree that reining in Iran is the region's priority, because it threatens their own stability. Given Tehran's support of Hamas, he'll say progress toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians is impossible until Iran has been pushed back. (See pictures of Jerusalem divided.)Most of the media says it's going to be contentious but it doesn't seem to me that they need to be on the same exact page to work something out:
Obama will agree that curbing Iran's regional influence and limiting its nuclear activities is an urgent priority. But the U.S. President won't buy Netanyahu's sequencing. Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains a matter of urgency, Obama will argue, and he'll point out that the moderate Arab neighbors with whom the Israelis want to stand against Iran are also the ones most urgently insisting on the immediate implementation of a two-state solution with the Palestinians, whose unresolved plight strengthens radicals against moderates. Netanyahu will say no progress is possible on the Palestinian front until Iran is defanged; Obama will argue that rallying Arab support against Iran's ambitions requires resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Time
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is signaling he may resist President Barack Obama's pressure to support Palestinian statehood as the two leaders try to tackle an array of Mideast issues Monday on which they disagree.The Ottowa Citizen:
A senior aide to Netanyahu, national security adviser Uzi Arad, suggested the Israeli leader might not yield to pressure from Obama for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict. He also seemed to hint that Israel might consider military action against Iran when he said there was a "sense of urgency" in Israel over the Iranian nuclear threat.
Such rhetoric suggests diplomatic high stakes as the two men hold their first White House meeting against a backdrop of disagreement over several key issues: U.S. overtures to once-shunned Iran and Syria and pressure on Israel to support a Palestinian state. MSNBC
President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched their first White House talks on Monday grappling with rare U.S.-Israeli differences over Middle East peacemaking and how to deal with Iran.Haaretz:
Wading into the thicket of Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy four months after taking office, Obama planned to press the hawkish Israeli leader to endorse Palestinian statehood and freeze Jewish settlement expansion on occupied land.
But Netanyahu, who heads a new right-leaning government that has balked so far at embracing a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict, appeared unlikely to comply.
American Jews are closely following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, in a bid to figure out where U.S. President Barack Obama's Israel policy is headed.But the Washington Post says neither wants the meeting to fail:
Seventy-eight percent of American Jews voted for Obama, and now that he has shaken the hand of far-left Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and indicated that the United States expects Israel to abide by its commitment to freeze settlement construction and dismantle illegal outposts, many of those voters want to know whether their commitment to a liberal candidate has created a conflict with their commitment to Israel.
Leaders of U.S. Jewish organizations have told Haaretz that even if not all American Jews share Netanyahu's political views, most Jews support Israel unequivocally - and they say that is the message that has to be conveyed to Obama.
The potential for conflict is there. Obama has stressed his belief in the creation of a Palestinian state and in pursuing diplomacy with Iran on its nuclear ambitions, while Netanyahu is highly skeptical of both endeavors. But analysts and officials in both governments said it is in neither man's interest to have a public spat.
"For different but complementary reasons, both Obama and Netanyahu do not want this meeting to fail," said Daniel C. Kurtzer, a former ambassador to Israel and a foreign policy adviser to the Obama campaign.
The Obama administration has only the wisps of a policy toward the Middle East in place, with many key decisions still to be made. The president appointed a special envoy for peace, former senator George J. Mitchell, and has sought to engage Iran. But with the Palestinians weak and divided, and the new Israeli government skeptical of high-profile peace efforts, many key strategic questions remain unanswered.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
