Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Nexus of Israel, Iran, and the Palestinian Issue

Here is the WaPo article and Power Line's analysis, which sums all up neatly with this:
"Benjamin Netanyahu's government is said to have decided that it will not move ahead on serious peace talks with Palestinians until it sees progress in U.S. efforts to stop Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. This is statecraft at its best."
What do you think?

Time is running out on the Iran nuclear front. And, frankly, if I were Netanyahu, I would prioritize Iran too.

RELATED POST: "Netanyahu to Obama: 'Stop Iran . . . or I Will.'"

UPDATE 1: Interesting opinion/observation here:
Give Benjamin Netanyahu credit for learning from the experience of others. The new Israeli Prime Minister has watched Barack Obama get pushed around on the international stage for the past 100 days, and figures that he can redefine a relationship, too. Bibi will tell Obama that Israel will move no further on Palestinian peace talks until the US removes the threat from Iran . . .

Previous Israeli governments usually deferred to the US in public, even if they pushed back in private on policy in their back yard. Netanyahu has apparently taken the measure of this President and decided that the traditional deference isn’t necessary, after watching him get humbled by the likes of Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-Il, Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega, and others. If our opponents feel that bold, why not our friends?
Oh, my!

UPDATE 2: The Jerusalem Post says that the Washington Post is all wrong:
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon on Wednesday denied a report that Israel will not move ahead with diplomatic talks with the Palestinians until the US places more pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear weapons program.

"We will deal with the Palestinian issue as if there is no Iranian issue, and with the Iranian issue as if there is no Palestinian issue," Ayalon said.

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