Increasingly what you are seeing is that the facts on the ground are making it almost impossible, at least very difficult, and if this trendline continues – impossible, to create a contiguous, functioning Palestinian state,” Obama told Channel Two’s Uvda programme.
Israel expects to receive more favourable treatment from Obama’s successor, President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump has denounced the Obama administration’s Israel policy and has vowed to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, riling the Palestinians. He has also named as US ambassador to Israel a lawyer who raised money for a major Jewish settlement.
Relations between Netanyahu and Obama have been strained for years over their differences regarding settlement-building and Iran nuclear deal’s with world powers signed in 2015.
Ties deteriorated to a low point in December when Washington did not exercise its veto to stop a UN Security Council resolution that demands an end to Israeli settlement building, prompting harsh criticism from Netanyahu of Obama and Kerry.
The right-wing Netanyahu has accused the Obama administration of being obsessed with settlements and not recognising what he called “the root of the conflict – Palestinian opposition to a Jewish state in any boundaries.”
Netanyahu, for whom settlers are a key constituency, has said his government has been their greatest ally. The Palestinians want the West Bank and East Jerusalem, along with the Gaza Strip – which Israel also captured in 1967 but withdrew from in 2005 – for an independent state.
The last US-brokered peace talks broke down in 2014.
Washington deems settlement activity illegitimate and most countries view it as an obstacle to peace. Israel cites a biblical, historical and political connection to the land – which the Palestinians also claim – as well as security interests.Kerry to attend Middle East peace conference on 15 January in Paris
US Secretary of State John Kerry will attend a Middle East peace conference organized by France and to be held in Paris on Jan. 15, his spokesman said on Tuesday.
The conference is aimed at determining whether Israelis and Palestinians could be brought back to negotiations and revive moribund peace talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the conference proposal.
No comments:
Post a Comment