[Peace-discuss] Obama: Israeli Settlements "Have To Be Stopped"

[Robert Naiman]

Two cheers for President Obama.

President Obama, at the press conference today with Israeli Prime
Minister Netanyahu:

"Now, Israel is going to have to take some difficult steps as well,
and I shared with the Prime Minister the fact that under the roadmap
and under Annapolis that there's a clear understanding that we have to
make progress on settlements.  Settlements have to be stopped in order
for us to move forward."
[...]
However, what really matters is giving teeth to the policy. There can
scarcely be any reasonable doubt that if the Obama Administration
really wants to, it can stop Israeli settlement activity in the West
Bank. The U.S. has a great deal of leverage over the Israeli
government. The question is whether the Obama Administration will use
that leverage.

For example, earlier this month, President Obama sent his FY2010
budget request to Congress and, as expected, included in it $2.775
billion in military aid for Israel, an increase of $225 million from
this year's budget.

This presents the perfect opportunity for the Obama Administration to
"put its money where its mouth is." The Obama Administration could,
for example, support conditioning the increase in U.S. military aid on
Israeli compliance with a settlement freeze.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/obama-israeli-settlements_b_204961.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/5/18/195739/808

--
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org