US-Israeli relations: White House sets out demands to Netanyahu

TV show host Jay Leno made a cruel joke last week that will have hurt the White House more than a hundred critical comment pieces in the New York Times or Washington Post. Leno, host of the Tonight Show, said a poll showed some people in favour of Barack Obama's presidency so far and some opposed, but most reserving judgment until he had done something. By next week, Obama may have his health bill, which would be a monumental domestic policy achievement, and jokes like Leno's would be a thing of the past. But Obama had hoped to have something to show earlier, a foreign policy breakthrough – the resumption of the Middle East peace negotiations. It all looked simple last week. Vice-president Joe Biden was to fly to Israel and his visit would be marked by the start of talks between the Israelis and Palestinians on a peace agreement. The Obama administration was not looking for much, the bare minimum. Unlike in September, when Obama had hoped to announce full-blown negotiations in Paris, Moscow or some other capital, this was to have been a more modest affair, so-called "proximity" talks, with the Israelis and Palestinians not even in the same room. But the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, failed to deliver even that. While Biden was in Israel, the interior ministry announced a plan to build 1,600 Jewish homes in East Jerusalem, destroying any prospect of a renewal of talks. The Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as their capital, said they would not take part even in proximity talks while there was the prospect of more Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem. The Israelis embarrassed Obama in September. The White House is determined that he is not going to be embarrassed again, and the decision was taken on Biden's return to the US to pile pressure on Netanyahu. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, set out a series of demands in a call to Netanyahu on Friday, including dropping the planned new housing, and is awaiting an answer. It is a difficult stand-off both for the US and Israel. The Obama administration cannot afford to back off a second time, not least because it would lose even more credibility in the Muslim world. Israel has a lot of influence among members of Congress and can use that leverage to make life awkward for Obama as he tries to secure his health bill. But the criticism of Israel by the Obama administration is also making life difficult for Netanyahu, who has been on the receiving end of media criticism in Israel over his handling of relations with the US. Next week promises drama when both Clinton and Netanyahu are scheduled to address the annual conference in Washington of the powerful pro-Israeli American-Israel Public Affairs Committee.