Obama's speech a 'historic shift' on Israel and Palestine? No.

To be sure, Israeli Prime MInister Benjamin Netanyahu's office expressed outrage. "Netanyahu expects to hear a reaffirmation from President Obama of U.S. commitments made to Israel in 2004," the PM's office tweeted. "Among other things, those commitments relate to Israel not having to withdraw to the 1967 lines which are both indefensible and which would leave major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria beyond those lines." Judea and Samaria is a term for the West Bank.

On security, there was much to reassure Netanyahu. "As for security, every state has the right to self-defense, and Israel must be able to defend itself – by itself – against any threat. Provisions must also be robust enough to prevent a resurgence of terrorism; to stop the infiltration of weapons; and to provide effective border security. The full and phased withdrawal of Israeli military forces should be coordinated with the assumption of Palestinian security responsibility in a sovereign, non-militarized state," Obama said.

Aluf Benn, a senior foreign policy and national security columnist for the Israeli paper Haaretz, writes that part of the speech in fact contains a key victory for Netanyahu, far more important than any subtle US shift in language. "In return for his call for the establishment of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders with agreed land swaps, without defining the size of these lands, Obama accepted Netanyahu's demands for strict security arrangements and a gradual, continuous withdrawal from the West Bank," he writes. "The points of the speech were surely pleasing to Netanyahu's ears. Obama promised he won't force a deal on Israel and the Palestinians and demanded both sides to return to negotiations. He did not condemn, as he did before, the Israeli settlements in the territories as "illegitimate" and did not demand a settlement freeze. He only reminded, in a critical tone, that Israel continues building settlements, as an explanation for the deadlock in peace talks."

What does all this mean? Well, we haven't heard much from the Palestinians yet. But Obama chose to directly criticize the recent Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, one of the few things that Mahmoud Abbas has done in years that was generally popular among his people. ("In particular, the recent announcement of an agreement between Fatah and Hamas raises profound and legitimate questions for Israel – how can one negotiate with a party that has shown itself unwilling to recognize your right to exist?")

It makes it hard to see a breakthrough coming on the back of all this.

Related: Five largest Israeli settlements: who lives there, and why

Previous

1 | 2