Mideast Peace Is Possible

Obama Says Mideast Peace Is Possible Before His First Term Ends

By Louis Meixler and Jonathan Ferziger

July 9 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House that a Middle East peace agreement can be reached before the end of his first term.

Obama gave his assessment of the prospects for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict in an interview with Israel’s Channel 2 television that was shown yesterday as Netanyahu wrapped up a three-day trip to the U.S. The Israeli leader said he would prove wrong those who are skeptical about his commitment to peace.

When asked whether a Middle East deal could be concluded during his first four years in office, Obama said: “I think so.” The president’s term ends in January 2013. Netanyahu, speaking in New York, said: “I think we should seize the moment.”

Obama met with Netanyahu at the White House on July 6 and said direct Israel-Palestinian talks may get started within less than three months. Obama has been trying to persuade Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to move beyond the indirect talks they have been conducting through U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell and hold face-to-face negotiations.

Netanyahu is interested “in being a statesman,” Obama said in the broadcast. “The fact that he is not perceived as a dove in some ways can be helpful.”

Abbas and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are “willing to make the concessions and engage in negotiations that can result in peace,” Obama said. The president said there “is a constant contest between moderates and rejectionists” in the Arab world.

Seize Opportunity

“We probably won’t have a better opportunity than we have right now and that has to be seized,” Obama said.

Obama said time may be running out for Palestinian moderates who are willing to make compromises “if they aren’t able to deliver for their people.”

Netanyahu, whose Likud party supports Jewish settlement in the West Bank, said yesterday in New York that Israel is prepared to make “far-ranging concessions” to achieve a political solution.

“I intend to confound the skeptics and critics,” Netanyahu said in a lunchtime speech to the Council on Foreign Relations. “ I’m prepared to do something. I’m prepared to take risks.”

Obama, who described his two hours with Netanyahu as “excellent” and detailed, described the Israeli leader as “somebody who understands that we’ve got a fairly narrow window of opportunity.”

Direct Talks

Still, Netanyahu indicated that he doesn’t want to extend the 10-month moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank that ends Sept. 26 in the hope that Abbas will agree to meet face-to-face.

“So far seven months have passed and they haven’t come in,” Netanyahu said. “We should not waste any more time.”

Abbas, who met with Obama at the White House on June 9, has called for a halt to settlement construction in the West Bank and said he wants to see more progress in indirect talks before moving to the negotiating table with Netanyahu.

“The Israeli people are going to have to overcome legitimate skepticism, more than legitimate fears, in order to get a change that I think will secure Israel for another 60 years,” Obama said.

Nuclear Iran

Obama and Netanyahu also conferred in Washington on what they say is the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

“All indicators are that they are in fact pursuing a nuclear weapon,” Obama said in yesterday’s broadcast. “I assure you I have not taken options off the table.”

Netanyahu praised sanctions that Obama signed into law last week targeting Iranian gasoline imports and banking access as measures that “bite.” The United Nations Security Council imposed on June 9 a fourth round of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear development.

Obama, when asked in the Channel Two interview about the possibility of Israel launching a unilateral attack on Iran, said he did not believe Netanyahu would surprise him. “We try to coordinate on issues of mutual concern,” he said.

Asked about why some Israelis doubt his support for the country, Obama said “some of it may just be the fact that my middle name is Hussein and that creates suspicion, some of it may have to do with the fact that I have actively reached out to the Muslim community.”

“The truth of the matter is that my outreach to the Muslim community is designed precisely to reduce the antagonism and the dangers posed by a hostile Muslim world to Israel and to the West,” he said.