Israel complicating US-French relations

Patience may be wearing thin in Paris; the French FM told Netanyahu that if Israel rejects the resumption of peace negotiations according to the French initiative, France would consider supporting Abbas’s UN bid in September.

By DAVID HARRIS-GERSHON
sarkozy and netanyahu in france (photo credit: Amos Ben Gershom / GPO)
sarkozy and netanyahu in france
(photo credit: Amos Ben Gershom / GPO)
In the beginning of June, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe handed both the Israelis and the Palestinians a proposal to revive their long-stalled peace talks. The proposal – which Juppe hinted had been approved by the White House – incorporated US President Barack Obama’s recent articulation of basing negotiations for two states upon the 1967 borders with mutually-agreed land swaps, the place from which every serious negotiation has begun in the last two decades (including Oslo).
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The French offer came on the heels of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s highly politicized, scorched-earth campaign through Washington, in which Israel’s leader did much to not only discredit Obama’s vision for peace in his rabble-rousing speech before Congress, but did much to signal the end of the Middle East peace process as well (including the suggestion that Jerusalem is off limits to the Palestinians).
And so the French – showing Israel what it looks like when an ally has America’s back – served up a multilateral challenge to Netanyahu, a test administered, it appeared, at the behest of the Obama administration containing a single, underlying question: Should we, the United States and the EU, give up on you, Netanyahu, as a willing partner?
According to the one Israeli newspaper, France offered, in conjunction with its proposal, “to convene a peace conference in Paris next month to resume the direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.”
Then, suddenly, something strange occurred: word came from the Turkish press that the US was simultaneously offering Ankara the opportunity to host a major peace summit between the Israelis and the Palestinians if Turkey thwarted a second Gaza flotilla initiative – a flotilla which (coincidentally?) now seems on the verge of being delayed once again after the Turkish group IHH, owner of the Mavi Marmara and organizer of last year’s flotilla, pulled out.
One thing is certain: there is not time for two major peace conferences – one in Paris and one in Ankara – between now and September, when the Palestinians are poised to seek a unilateral declaration of statehood before the United Nations.
Which begs the question: was Obama’s offer to Turkey made in concert with the French?
It’s possible that such was the case, for while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accepted the Paris proposal, signs at the time (which turned out to be prophetic) pointed toward a Netanyahu declination, and the Turkish gambit may have been seen as a last-ditch effort to revive talks, a back-up plan for everyone involved, including the French, as September and the promise of a United Nations showdown approaches.
However, it’s also possible that the overture to Turkey was made without France’s knowledge, which could explain why, after meeting recently with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Juppe insisted that France would push forward with their proposal even as Clinton appeared to reject it, the moment revealing that the French may be growing quite frustrated with the Obama administration over Israel. (One White House official went so far as to claim the French initiative took the US by surprise, a dubious statement meant, perhaps, for Turkish ears.)
There are additional signs that patience with Washington may be wearing thin in Paris. Juppe told Netanyahu that if were Israel to reject the resumption of peace negotiations according to the French plan, it would consider supporting Abbas’s drive to have Palestine recognized as a full UN member in September. Such recognition requires (in most scenarios) initial approval by the UN Security Council. The US, which has veto power in the Security Council, has vowed to thwart such a Palestinian effort, and the Obama administration is currently trying to convince France, a fellow Security Council member, to use its veto power as well. Why? The last thing this administration wants is to be isolated on the world stage in what will likely be a dramatic and sensational vote as the Arab Spring continues to bloom.
France, however, has yet to commit on that one, and is keeping its options open – an option which includes voting to recognize Palestine as a full member state in the Security Council. Such a vote would stand in direct opposition to the Obama administration’s position. And such a vote would establish a clear divide between Obama and President Nicolas Sarkozy on how to proceed in the Middle East, a divide that may have begun to fracture in Ankara.
The writer is the author of Shrapnel: A Memoir.