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With two-state offer, Netanyahu joins the club

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Message: If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/38396/full/38396/with-two-state-offer-netanyahu-joins-the-club/ With two-state offer, Netanyahu joins the club Thursday, June 18, 2009 | by eric fingerhut In accepting the notion of a demilitarized Palestinian state, Benjamin Netanyahu, in a June 14 speech at Bar-Ilan University, adopted what is essentially the position of a large swath of Israelis and American Jews. This week, Israelis and many Jewish groups on the left and right were applauding the Israeli prime minister for his stance <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 216px;"><img alt="MEjps bibi" class="left" height="284" src="/images/uploads/z_photos_2009/z06_19_09/MEjps bibi.jpg" title="Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a policy address at Bar-Ilan University June 14. photo/jta/flash90/michael kramer" width="216" /> <div class="caption">Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a policy address at Bar-Ilan University June 14. photo/jta/flash90/michael kramer</div> </div> Netanyahu’s comments on Palestinian statehood also pleased the White House, with President Barack Obama calling the speech “positive movement.” Some Jewish leaders expressed hope that Netanyahu’s shift would reduce tensions between Israel and the United States over Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but there was no sign of either side giving ground this week after June 17 talks in Washington involving Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. “We want to see a stop to the settlements,” Clinton said. “We think that is an important and essential part of pursuing the efforts leading to a comprehensive peace agreement.” Netanyahu’s speech avoided committing to a settlement freeze, and then Lieberman said in a Washington press conference that Israel is holding firm to the stance that settlements must be allowed to grow to accommodate population trends. He also said Israel wants settlement understandings reached with President George W. Bush to remain in place. The settlement question is expected to dominate a meeting next week between U.S. special Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell and Netanyahu. Initial White House statements on Netanyahu’s speech didn’t mention settlements at all, although Obama on June 15 reiterated his call for a “cessation of settlements.” A number of left-wing groups said that while Netanyahu’s acceptance of two states was a significant moment, they were disappointed by his failure to alter his position on Jewish settlement growth. And on the right, some categorized Netanyahu’s speech as a concession. In what was billed as a major policy address, Netanyahu said he would support a Palestinian state as long as the state was demilitarized and the Palestinians recognized Israel as a Jewish state. He also called for immediate negotiations with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world without preconditions. Netanyahu went further in a conference call June 15 with members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, using the catch phrase “two states for two peoples” and saying it was possible to have effective security arrangements to accompany a Palestinian state. “There were a lot of conditions,” Obama said June 15 to reporters, “and obviously working through the conditions on Israel’s side for security — as well as the Palestinian side for sovereignty and territorial integrity and the capacity to have a functioning, prosperous state — that’s exactly what negotiations are supposed to be about. But what we’re seeing is at least the possibility that we can restart serious talks.” Jewish groups across the spectrum, including the major Orthodox, Conservative and Reform organizations, praised Netanyahu’s new position, as did AIPAC. Netanyahu “effectively challenged proponents of a Palestinian state to understand that Israel will not only accept, but even assist in, the creation of a Palestinian state so long as doing so does not and cannot threaten the physical security and Jewish integrity of Israel,” the Orthodox Union said in a statement. In Israel, 71 percent of those interviewed in a Ha’aretz-Dialog poll said Netanyahu said the right things in his speech. The poll also found that 49 percent of opposition Kadima Party members believe the party should join the coalition government based on the speech. There is general agreement in the American Jewish community that a Palestinian state should not be permitted to have a military. The principle is part of the Geneva Initiative, an unofficial peace proposal put forth in 2003 by Israeli and Palestinian politicians and promoted since by a host of left-wing groups. The key issue is how to balance demilitarization with the need for a Palestinian police force to have weapons to keep domestic order, J Street executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami said, and that will have to be worked out in negotiations. Ori Nir, the spokesman for Americans for Peace Now, said Netanyahu’s endorsement of the idea of a Palestinian state was significant, but not enough. “I didn’t see any give on his part” on settlements, Nir said. Some on the right saw Netanyahu’s speech as a negative development rather than a positive one. “Israel has made yet another one-sided concession by publicly accepting a Palestinian state, with qualified exceptions, and received nothing in return for this major concession,” Zionist Organization of America president Morton Klein said. “The speech makes it look like Israel is caving into pressure.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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