While US and Israel argue rest of the world moves on as Israel isolation deepened by Arab Spring

From US Washington politics site The Hill

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sure to grab the lion’s share of the spotlight with speeches scheduled at a joint session of Congress and at AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and a meeting with President Barack Obama.

But in the world beyond the Beltway, Netanyahu is seen as the main stumbling block to peace, and his expected media blitz won’t help him spin his vision of a greater Israel dominating most of the land and resources between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, with a Palestinian statelet under its control. Nor will the pre-visit announcement that Israel is planning to construct even more illegal settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem.

It’s just as well that President Obama did not present a detailed vision for Middle East peace in his State Department speech today. He has lost considerable credibility given his inability to secure a settlement freeze, let alone a withdrawal of Israeli soldiers and settlers from the occupied territories. Instead, President Obama simply restated some known U.S. positions with seeming firmness – two states, agreed land swaps – and assured Israel of unwavering U.S. support without sticking his neck out on issues such as the Palestinian refugees’ right of return or Jerusalem. Sadly, his silence about the illegality of Israel’s settlement enterprise only emboldens the settlers.

Israel and America – the former accustomed to exercising absolute power over the Palestinians and the latter so practiced in pressuring the weaker party – still insist that direct negotiations are the only way forward, an absurd posture after 20 years of failure.

Meanwhile, the world has moved on. more

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