Washington - President Barack Obama is meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to discuss the prospect of an Israeli settlement freeze and ease Israeli concerns on the US strategy towards Iran. Netanyahu, who arrives in Washington today, is due to meet President Obama tomorrow noon in what is seen as his most defining visit since he took office beginning of April. A US senior administration official highlighted yesterday the importance of the meeting and reiterated Washington's commitment to pursue peace between Israel and the Palestinians based on a “two-state solution”, a framework that has not yet been accepted by the new Israeli Prime Minister. The senior official, striking a different tone from the previous administration of George W Bush, spoke about Israel's obligations “related to settlements and outposts” and referred to what Vice President Joe Biden said at AIPAC conference two weeks ago that Israel “must work toward a two-state solution, not build settlements, dismantle outposts and allow Palestinians access to freedom of movement.” The issue of settlement freeze will be discussed in the summit on Monday according to the official. In the weeks leading to the meeting, Netanyahu has been lowering the expectations on his government's commitments, by avoiding the endorsement of a two-state solution, emphasizing a “bottom up” approach with the Palestinians and not entering into final status issues such as Settlements. Ziad Asali, however, President and founder of the American Task Force on Palestine, does not foresee a clash between Netanyahu and Obama in tomorrow's meeting. He argues that Netanyahu “will be speaking for the Israeli establishment and is not going to be flying off on his own”. Asali adds that the idea of “saying no to a popular American president” can be too costly for an Israeli Prime Minister. It's a cost that Netanyahu is familiar with after clashing with former President Bill Clinton and losing the premiership in 1999. Asali stresses that the two leaders “cannot come out to the South Lawn of the White House after their meeting with any sign of disagreement”, and expects Netanyahu to budge in on the issue of Settlements freeze, in return for some US assurances on Iran. Tel Aviv has been pressuring Washington to put a timeline on its negotiations with Tehran out of fear that Iran exploits diplomacy to buy time and advance its nuclear capabilities. The US senior administration official recognized the Israeli concerns, and stressed that “talking to Iran is not for the sake of talking…nor is it without an end”. He added that if engagement “doesn't work, and Iran does not make use of the opportunity, then we would have strengthened our position in the international community” in lobbying for future steps against Tehran. Pushing the Peace Process and achieving a two-state solution is something that Washington does not eye in isolation of the Iranian challenge. The convergence of the two especially taking into account Iran's support to Hamas and Hizballah, is creating a new sense of urgency behind the Peace Process. Jeffrey Feltman, the US assistant secretary of State for Near East Affairs, said in his confirmation hearing at the congress last Thursday, that the goal is “to promote a comprehensive peace as quickly as possible…where Iran is trying to be a spoiler”. Feltman stated that “the two-state solution for the Israeli and Palestinian conflict is in the U.S. interest because we want to address the conflict in order to remove one of the tools that Iran uses to distract the region from what it is doing (on its nuclear program and regionally).” This urgency is creating lot of momentum in the Arab World in and most recently in meetings between Arab leaders of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Syria, as well as meetings between Netanyahu and the Jordanian and Egyptian leaderships. Those efforts could result in a solid framework or a peace plan to speed up the process. The US senior official tells Al-Hayat that “President Obama had an excellent meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan three weeks ago, and they discussed the possibility of taking the Arab peace initiative and building on it.” He adds that “King Abdullah II is holding several meetings in region and what will come out is determination on the best way to move forward.” The Arab Peace initiative is a plan announced by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz in 2002, calling for Israeli withdrawal from all Arab lands it occupied in 1967 in return for normalization and peace with its Arab neighbors.
