ISRAELI REACTION:JERUSALEM HAS expressed the hope that President Barack Obama's Cairo speech will lead to a new period of reconciliation between the Arab and Muslim world and Israel.
A government response to the address, which was broadcast live on all major Israeli television and radio stations, hailed the American effort as hopefully “heralding the beginning of a new era that will bring about an end to the conflict and lead to Arab recognition of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, living in peace and security in the Middle East”.
Israeli officials said they were informed in advance that the president would be raising the two issues over which Jerusalem and Washington have been at loggerheads in recent weeks: US support for a two-state solution and the demand that Israel halt all West Bank settlement construction.
Some officials criticised the perceived “naivety” of the president, particularly his support for a peaceful Iranian nuclear programme.
Foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman praised the speech and the fact that the president stressed that the first stage of the road map peace plan calls for a cessation of violence. “As the president says, the connection between the US and Israel is a strong and unbreakable one that will remain despite periods of legitimate disagreement,” he said.
Defence minister Ehud Barak, currently in the US, welcomed the president’s address, saying the speech “contained support and encouragement for moderate and peace-seeking parties as well as censure of terror and extremist violence that threaten regional stability and world peace”.
However, right-wing members of the government coalition were less enthusiastic. Daniel Herschkowitz, head of the Jewish Home party, said: “Obama ignored the fact that the Palestinians have not abandoned terror. The government of Israel is not America’s lackey.”
Fellow Jewish home parliamentarian Zvulun Orlev expressed fear that America’s Middle East policy was changing. “Traditional US commitments towards the security needs which ensure the existence and independence of the state of Israel are being eroded.”
Members of the opposition highlighted differences between Washington and Jerusalem.
Ze’ev Boim, a member of the Knesset for the centrist Kadima party, said prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu miscalculated in his assessment of American foreign policy, saying narrow political interests prevented the government supporting a two-state solution.