Obama Downplays 'Hot Mic' Exchange

President Obama addressed his “hot mic” conversation with French President Nicholas Sarkozy during a press conference in Hawaii Sunday, explaining that the conversation was focused on the U.S’ dedication to Israel’s security, not bad-mouthing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Netanyahu.

“The primary conversation I had with President Sarkozy in that meeting revolved around my significant disappointment that France had voted in favor of the Palestinians joining UNESCO,” Obama said, noting that he would not comment on the specific comments the two leaders made regarding Netanyahu.

In this exchange, Obama told Sarkozy that the Israel-Palestine issue could only be resolved through direct negotiations. Going through the UN, Obama told Sarkozy, would short-cuircuit the peace process and result in further distress in the Middle East.

“I had a very frank and firm conversation with President Sarkozy about that issue,” Obama said. “And that is consistent with both private and public statements that I’ve been making to everybody over the last several months.”

During an intended private conversation between Obama and Sarkozy at the G20 summit, Sarkozy reportedly called Netanyahu a “liar” to which Obama allegedly responded, “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you.” Unbeknownst to Obama or Sarkozy, reporters were listening to the entire exchange over a headset connected to Obama and Sarkozy’s microphones. The Obama administration has been trying to smooth things over since the exchange was made public last Tuesday.

Palestinian UN Bid Moving One Small Step at a Time

The UN Security Council today agreed to refer Palestinian application for UN membership to a special committee which will begin examining its request Friday.

Council members met briefly this morning to make the announcement, the first step in a process that could likely take weeks, or longer, before any final decision. 

The Palestinian Authority’s Envoy at the UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters he was pleased Security Council members had started the initial process preparing for deliberation over Palestine’s admission request .

” As you see, the process is moving forward step by step, and we hope that the Security Council will shoulder its responsibility and approve our application…” he told reporters outside the Security Council. 

 The Palestinian Authority would need 9 of the Security Council’s 15 members to vote in favor of the resolution, with no votes against coming from the security body’s five veto-wielding permanent members.(China, Russia, France, UK, US)

American officials have already indicated they would veto a resolution on Palestinian UN membership should it come before the Security Council, although it remains unclear if the the Palestinian Authority has secured the necessary 9 votes of support from other members of the Council. 

The Palestinian envoy also condemned the Israeli government’s decision yesterday to approve the construction of over 1000 housing units in East Jerusalem, calling it “provocative”, “illegal” and evidence the Netanyahu government has no regard for the international community’s peace plan. 

Mansour said the move was “a clear answer by the Israeli government to the Quartet, to negotiations and to the refusal of abiding by the global consensus on the fact that settlements are legal obstacle to peace and they need to be stopped.”

“This speaks clearly that Israel is not interested in negotiating with us, in spite of the fact they say they like to do so. Their action speaks louder than what they say verbally.” he added.

The Palestinian President and Israeli Prime Minister butted heads over the issue of settlements in their speeches last week to the General Assembly, with Mahmoud Abbas arguing that continued expansion was preventing the resumption of negotiations and Benjamin Netanyahu charging back that it was the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, not settlements, that had ended talks. 

The UN and the large majority of international community consider settlement activity to be illegal. The Obama administration’s official position is that they are illegitimate and an impedement to the peace process. 

Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor dismissed Mansour’s accusations over the latest settlement expansion, arguing that Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish people, but also conceding that Israeli officials would be open to negotiations on the matter.  

“Every thing is on the table, everything is negotiable. I hear the Palestinians using every pretext in order to find a reason not to go into negotiations. All we want… is for both sides to sit down and negotiate everything, nothing is off the table.” he told reporters outside the Security Council. “We’ve started a process, and the process at the end of the day should be between Palestinians and Israelis talking about everything without any preconditions, in Jerusalem and in Ramallah.” 

The Middle East Quartet -Russia, United States, European Union and United Nations- issued a statement last week after Abbas filed the Palestinian request for UN membership, appealing to both sides to urgently return to negotiations and respect their obligations under the Middle East Roadmap. 

The Quartet statement also outlines timeline for the possible resumption of negotiations and calls on both parties to submit proposals on territory and security within the next three months.

Both Mansour and Prosor said their governments were in the process of reviewing the Quartet statement and expected official responses by the end of the week. 

Abbas, Netanyahu Talk Past Each Other at UN General Assembly

In a passionate speech before the United Nations General Assembly, Mahmoud Abbas today made good on his bid for full Palestinian membership at the United Nations in the hope of reviving talks with Israel and moving past the stalemate that has characterized negotiations over the past decades.

Just minutes later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the Abbas approach and called for a peace deal before recognition.

President Abbas said the Palestinian request supported the resumption of negotiations and actually enhanced its chances of success.

“ It is no longer possible to redress the issue of the blocked horizon of the peace talks with the same means and methods that have repeatedly been tried and proven unsuccessful over the past years.” Abbas told the General Assembly, in a speech punctuated by applause and cheers from a majority of the national delegations in the assembly hall.

“We extend our hand to the Israeli government and the Israeli people for peace making and I say to them: Let us urgently build together a future for our children were they can enjoy freedom , security and prosperity. Let us build the bridges of dialogue instead of check points and walls of separation.”

The Palestinian President said he presented Secretary General Ban Ki Moon earlier today with an application for admission of Palestine on the basis on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital.

In the run-up to today’s announcement, Israeli officials repeatedly dismissed Palestine’s application for UN membership as an attempt to pressure and isolate Israel within the international community. 

Abbas argued that the intentions behind the application were quite the opposite and that the Palestinian Authority and people had clearly chosen the path of diplomacy, but could no longer stand by as settlement construction continued.

“Our efforts are not aimed at isolating Israel; or delegitimizing it. Rather we want to gain legitimacy for the cause of the people of Palestine, we only aim to delegitimize the settlement activities , the occupation and apartheid and the logic of ruthless force.” he said “When we bring our plight and our case to this international podium it is a confirmation of our reliance on the political and diplomatic option and is confirmation that we do not undertake unilateral steps.”

Last September, Palestinian officials walked away from talks after the Netanyahu government refused to extend a moratorium on settlement construction in the Occupied Territories.

The Obama administration first tried to pressure Israel to maintain the 2010 construction freeze, but stepped back from its demands after Netanyahu indicated settlement construction would go on.

 Taking to the podium a few minutes later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu challenged the Palestinian President’s assertions about the failure of negotiations. 

“President Abbas just stood here and he said that the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the settlements. Well thats odd, our conflict was raging for nearly half a century before there was a single Israeli settlement in the West Bank.” he told world body. “The core of the conflict is not the settlements. The settlements are a result of the conflict. Its an issue that has to be addressed and resolved in the course of negotiations,  but the core of the conflict has always been and unfortunately remain the refusal of the Palestinians to recognize a Jewish state in any border.”

Netanyahu said the Palestinians leadership continued to deny the historical connection Jews have with the state of Israel and Jerusalem and ignore its legitimate security concerns. 

“Israel is the Jewish state. President Abbas, stop walking around this issue, recognize the Jewish state and make peace with us.” 

Netanyahu said his government had worked hard to advance peace since he had taken office, but Palestinians officials refused to respond to his offers. 

“President Abbas, why don’t you join me? We have to stop negotiating about the negotiations. Lets just get on with it. Lets negotiate peace.” he said to applause “I cannot make peace alone, I cannot make peace without you. President Abbas, I extend my hand, the hand of Israel in peace.”

Abbas Gathers Support For Statehood; Perry Panders To Neocons

By Kenneth R. Bazinet

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is meeting today with international leaders at the United Nations, drumming up support for his bid to get the world body to recognize the state of Palestine.

The controversial move is further isolating Israel at the UN and putting the U.S. in a tough spot, since it supports the pro-democracy uprisings in the Middle East known as the Arab Spring, but will veto any effort at the UN Security Council to unilaterally declare Palestinian statehood.

“We hope the United States will revise its position and be on the side of the majority of nations or countries who want to support the Palestinian right to have self determination and independence,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said at an impromptu press conference after meeting with Venezuela’s foreign minister.

Abbas is angered by two decades of talks that have failed to reach a deal leading to Palestinian statehood, especially amid what he believes is further stalling tactics by Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

The Palestinian leader is meeting today with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

In an 11th-hour plea, Netanyahu now says he is ready to get back to serious negotiations to try to head off a vote on statehood, as early as Friday, when Abbas addresses the UN General Assembly.

Netanyahu also plans to address the UN on Friday.

Conservative GOP presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is seeking to take advantage of the international tensions, meeting with Jewish and Israeli leaders to blame Obama for the Palestinians move to get statehood.

“Simply put, we would not be here today at the precipice of such a dangerous move if the Obama Policy in the Middle East wasn’t naïve, arrogant, misguided and dangerous,” Perry said in prepared remarks released ahead of his speech today.

Despite Obama’s firm position that his Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice will veto Palestinian statehood at the UN Security Council, Perry blasted the President for his even-handed treatment of the Israelis and Palestinians.

“It must be said, first, that Israel is our oldest and strongest democratic ally in the Middle East and has been for more than 60 years,” Perry said. “The Obama Policy of moral equivalency, which gives equal standing to the grievances of Israelis and Palestinians, including the orchestrators of terrorism, is a dangerous insult.”

Perry, who has not addressed foreign policy matters very much on campaign trail, was dismissed by detractors as pandering to neo-conservative Republicans rather than adding anything meaningful to the dialogue.

Read more from Kenneth R. Bazinet at The Baz File…

Netanyahu’s Unexpected Concession To Obama

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

In a sharp break from his previous foreign policy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made key concessions to U.S President Obama in today’s meeting

Still, Netanyahu did not shift his stance on the two state solution which would allow the Palestinians to have their own legitimate territory and the Israelis could keep most of theirs.

Such was the conclusion of former United State Institute of Peace President and CEO and former U.S Ambassador to Israel Samuel Lewis and former Israeli Ambassador to Jordan and the European Union Oden Eran following the analysis of President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s meeting today.

The meeting gained mixed reviews after the analysis of the success of the meeting was observed.

Oren Eran said on Netanyahu that “politically speaking, he passed this particular hurdle but from the press conference at least you an judge that this is not the end of the story.”

Samuel Lewis on his part said “I can’t help saying that we won’t know really know how important this meeting was for some time.”

The meeting was the first between the two nations since President Obama’s election and was significant as it signaled a continuation in the relationship between the U.S and Israel despite the change in the American administration.

Lewis observed that “The number one purpose for Obama and for Netanyahu was the issue of trust, and whether they achieved at the beginning at least a trusting relationship between the two of them that has proved historically to be crucial in this relationship between Presidents and Prime ministers.”

Lewis added that “it hasn't yet been achieved if it’s going to be achieved.”

In addition, Lewis said, “I understood that emissaries were trying to work out a written agreed statement. Well it didn't come out as far as I know, which means they didn't agree, and that I think reinforces my opinion that there were a lot of disagreement in practice.”

However, both Eran and Lewis agreed that Netanyahu made a surprise concession as Eran said, “Obama said that from his point of view, the ability to make peace between the Israelis and the palestinians only strengthen the capability of the international community to wrestle with the Iranian threat.”