ISRAELI prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington to meet for the first time the new American administration and all indications are that he will press the US to avoid cozying up to Iran as long as it continues its nuclear program. In Netanyahu's opinion, Tehran comprises the number one threat to Israel's existence, a close second being the wholesale animosity of surrounding Arab countries toward the so-called Jewish state that exists on occupied lands. US president Barack Obama shouldn't fall for it. It has become increasingly clear from the ever-expanding settlements on occupied Palestine that Israel has no intentions for peace. The absurd detours forced upon Palestinians when navigating their own land, the separation barrier that separates them from their own land, the checkpoints and the capricious closing of borders that prevent Palestinians from getting to their jobs present far more of a threat to a peaceful existence than any nuclear program that Iran is rightly or wrongly pursuing. The likelihood of an Iranian nuclear assault on Israel is negligible, given that Iran would be decimated by Israel's Western allies if Iran ever managed to build a nuclear weapon and if such an attack were to take place. Palestinians will never accept occupation and the settlements continue to aggravate the wound. The two-state solution is the best offer Israel could get: Recognition of Israel as a legitimate state and normalized relations with 57 Muslim countries if it returns to the territory it held before the 1967 war. An immediate, effective and lasting peaceful solution cannot get better than that. If Obama does not press this argument on the recalcitrant Netanyahu, there will be no progress in Palestine. __
