PRESIDENT BARACK Obama has promised that his administration would be more “honest” with Israel than previous US governments about the need for the Jewish state to compromise with Palestinians. He said that Israel must freeze all settlement activity in the West Bank and embrace a two-state solution if peace negotiations are to succeed.
The president was speaking to National Public Radio (NPR) ahead of a visit to the Middle East and Europe that begins today in Riyadh with talks with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah. In Cairo tomorrow, Mr Obama will deliver a long-awaited speech to the Muslim world in which he is expected to discuss the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Later this week, he will visit the site of the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald, outside the German city of Weimar, before travelling to France for a ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
Mr Obama said he remained committed to the special relationship between the US and Israel but insisted that his administration’s uncompromising opposition to settlement expansion was consistent with the friendship between the two countries.
“Part of being a good friend is being honest,” he said.
“And I think there have been times where we are not as honest as we should be about the fact that the current direction, the current trajectory of the region, is profoundly negative – not only for Israeli interests but also US interests. And that’s part of a new dialogue that I’d like to see encouraged in the region.”
The number of Israeli settlers in the West Bank has tripled since the early 1990s to about 300,000 but the right-wing government of Binyamin Netanyahu this week rejected US calls for a total halt to further expansion of settlements.
Mr Obama's Middle East envoy, former senator George Mitchell, will be in Israel next week to increase pressure on Mr Netanyahu to order all settlement activity to stop. The Israeli daily Haaretzreported yesterday that Mr Mitchell has told Israeli officials that the new US administration does not feel bound by an informal agreement between former president George Bush and former Israeli leaders to allow limited expansion of existing settlements.
“I think that we do have to retain a constant belief in the possibilities of negotiations that will lead to peace. And that’s going to require, from my view, a two-state solution that is going to require that each side – the Israelis and Palestinians – meet their obligations,” Mr Obama told NPR.
“I’ve said very clearly to the Israelis both privately and publicly that a freeze on settlements, including natural growth, is part of those obligations.”
Mr Obama said he told Palestinians of the need for their continued progress on security and ending incitement which concerns Israelis.
Human rights activists have urged Mr Obama to address civil rights abuses in Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak has imprisoned numerous political opponents. Mr Obama said this week, however, that he does not view Mr Mubarak as an authoritarian leader but as a stalwart US ally who has been a force for stability in the Middle East.
“In every country I deal with, whether it’s China, Russia, ultimately Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, allies as well as non-allies, there are going to be some differences,” he told NPR.
“And what I want to do is just maintain consistency in affirming what those values that I believe in are, understanding that we’re not going to get countries to embrace various of our values simply by lecturing or through military means. We can’t force these approaches. What we can do is stand up for human rights. We can stand up for democracy. But I think it’s a mistake for us to somehow suggest that we’re not going to deal with countries around the world in the absence of their meeting all our criteria for democracy.”
In a separate interview with the BBC, Mr Obama repeated that Iran should not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon but hinted that Washington could agree to Tehran using nuclear power for civilian purposes.
“Without going into specifics, what I do believe is that Iran has legitimate energy concerns, legitimate aspirations. On the other hand, the international community has a very real interest in preventing a nuclear arms race in the region,” he said.