Israel risks losing international credibility over its Palestine stance: Barack Obama

News, US June 3, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

US president says Benjamin Netanyahu’s contradictory statements made before and after election cast doubt on whether ‘Israel is serious about a two-state solution’

US President Barack Obama shared his bleak outlook on the possibility for Palestinian statehood in an interview with Israeli TV on Tuesday, saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had lost international credibility as a potential peacemaker.

Obama also suggested that continued U.S. diplomatic defence for Israel at the United Nations over the Palestine dispute may be reviewed, while reaffirming U.S. support for Israeli security in a conflict-riven Middle East.

“Already, the international community does not believe that Israel is serious about a two-state solution. The statement the prime minister made compounded the belief that there’s not a commitment there,” Obama said referring to comments made by Netanyahu ahead of Israel’s general election in March.

In an interview with Israeli television aired on Tuesday, he offered a bleak outlook for decades of negotiations on Palestinian statehood bearing any fruit during the 18 months he has left in office.

“I don’t see the likelihood of a framework agreement,” Obama said. “The question is how do we create some building blocks of trust and progress.”

“As long as he was prime minister, there wouldn’t be two states. I think subsequently, his statements have suggested that there is the possibility of a Palestinian state, but it has so many caveats, so many conditions, that it is not realistic to think that those conditions would be met any time in the near future,” Obama said. “And so the danger here is that Israel as a whole loses credibility.”

In March, Netanyahu said there would be no Palestinian state under his watch before making several statements that sought to clarify his nuanced position.

Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu

In a last ditch attempt to rally voters, Netanyahu backtracked on previous statements that he supported an eventual brokering of peace by allowing Palestine to form its own state. He has since apologized, but that has done little to thaw his icy relationship with Obama.

The two have also long been divided over how to handle curbing Iran’s nuclear program.

“I think that Prime Minister Netanyahu is somebody who’s predisposed to think of security first; to think perhaps that peace is naïve; to see the worst possibilities as opposed to the best possibilities in Arab partners or Palestinian partners,” Obama continued.

Obama called on Israelis to support only diplomatic, non-military options for ensuring that Iran does not achieve the capability to produce nuclear weapons.