Obama and the Israel problem

President Barack Obama has just celebrated his first 100 days in office and declared himself 'pleased but not satisfied'. I think this is about the right tone to strike since America is still deep in financial crisis and unemployment is running at nearly 9%, the highest for many years.



But the President also has reasons to be cheerful. He is still riding high in the popularity stakes and he has taken some very brave decisions. His approaches to Iran, to Venezuela and to Raul Castro's Cuba have been giant strides towards opening windows of dialogue with nations America has shunned for years. His Presidency is a wonderful breath of fresh air in terms of approach.






But soon, in May, he may be faced with one of his biggest challenges as he hosts the new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington DC. And it is here that Mr Obama needs to show a different side of change and talk extremely toughly. It is imperative that the new American administration shows that it regards steps towards an independent Palestinian state as a number one priority and concedes nothing to Israeli vacillating on the issue.





This is going to be tough. America has, since Israel's birth, given the Jewish state virtually unqualified support and there is a powerful Jewish lobby running through the American political system. But the President will need to take on all of that, and the intransigent Mr Netanyahu, if the current , totally unacceptable, situation in Palestine is to be changed.



Israeli politicians are already talking about discussions on a Palestinian state as 'premature' instead preferring to talk of options to lighten the economic problems without actually ceding anything. The Israelis continue to expand their settlements on the West Bank in direct contravention of UN resolutions to stop, and Mr Obama may well have to risk a lot of unpopularity with the Jewish lobby at home as well as the Israelis themselves by threatening some form of sanctions if the Israelis refuse to comply.



It is a difficult issue for the American President and he has my sympathy, for, in microcosm, I have experienced the frustrations of criticising the actions of the Israeli state. I have some dearly treasured Jewish friends but this issue is so often a stumbling block that I have taken to avoiding it. For many Jews it seems, a criticism of Israel is seen as close to anti semitism and a failure to understand the intense drive to protect Israel's borders at all costs.



While recognising the need for Israel's security, the Jewish state can not continue its political and military policy in Gaza, in Lebanon, on the West Bank without continuing to lose the world's sympathy..and heaven knows it has managed to lose enough. President Obama has to do more than talk tough to Netanyahu. The Israelis have to be brought, kicking and screaming if necessary, to a conference table with their Palestinian counterparts and a deal hammered out for a viable, independent Palestinian state as a matter of urgency.