Obama on need for ‘real prospect’ of peace

When Netanyahu spoke right before the Israeli election he was quite unequivocal on the point that a Palestinian state would not be established under his watch, says Obama.

“Subsequently his statements have suggested that there is a possibility of a Palestinian state but there are so many caveats, so many conditions, that it’s not realistic to think these conditions will be met any time soon,” he says.

“The danger is that Israel as a whole loses credibility,” Obama says, adding that “it is difficult to accept at face value a statement made after the election” — when Netanyahu recommitted to a two-state solution — because this can be seen as an attempt to dial down the rhetoric back to the status quo.

Of course Netanyahu again now talks about peace, Obama says, but this is “talk about peace in the abstract […] It’s always tomorrow, it’s always later.”

The difficulty, he says, is that “up until this point we have pushed away European efforts or other efforts” against Israel at the UN,” but “if in fact there is no prospect of an actual peace process, it becomes more difficult to argue with someone concerned… by settlement construction.”

It’s more difficult to say ‘be patient, wait, there is a process here’,” when actually the prospect of peace is so dim, says the president.