President Obama, in a private conference call Wednesday, told
an audience of Jewish leaders to discount non-constructive statements made by
Israeli and Palestinian leaders as Middle East peace talks move forward, saying
that such remarks are all part of the negotiating game.
The groups represented on the call were from across the
Jewish religious spectrum: They included the orthodox Rabbinical Council of
America, the conservative Rabbinical Assembly, the reform Central Conference
of American Rabbis, and the reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.
Obama implored the rabbis on the call to publicly support the
talks, and to try to rally their own people to support the negotiations. The
call was timed in advance of the start of the Jewish high holy days, when the
Rabbis see the largest turnout of the year among their congregants. Along those lines, he asked them to discount
statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu or Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas when they say things in public that make the talks
seem doomed. That's mainly for the local television cameras, Obama said.
"I guarantee you over the next four months, six months, a
year, in any given week there's going to be something said by someone in the
Palestinian Authority that makes your blood boil and makes you think we can't do
this," Obama said, according to a recording of the call provided to The Cable. "We're going to have to work
through those things."
He emphasized that he would give the same message to Arab
groups, regarding statements by the Israeli government they might find
objectionable.
"What you're going to see over the next several months is
that at any given moment, either President Abbas or Prime Minister Netanyahu
may end up saying certain things for domestic consumption, for their
constituencies and so forth, that may not be as reflective of that spirit of
compromise we would like to see. Well, that's the nature of these talks," Obama
said.
Obama referred directly to statements made by both leaders this
week that seemed to show an unbridgeable gap over whether Israel must extend
its 10-month partial settlement construction freeze, which expires on Sept. 26.
The next round of the talks, to be held in Sharm el Sheikh and Jerusalem next
week, will be the last official round before the deadline.
"There is going to be an immediate set of difficulties
surrounding the existing moratorium on settlements," Obama admitted, pointing
out the public positions of the two leaders.
"On one hand, you
have Prime Minister Netanyahu saying ‘there's no way I can extend it.' There's
President Abbas saying ‘this has to be extended for these talks to be
effective," Obama said. He maintained that there was a compromise to be struck.
"I am absolutely convinced that both sides want to make this
work and both sides are going to be willing to make some difficult
concessions," Obama said. He did not specify what a potential compromise would
look like.
Overall, Obama told the rabbis that he believed both Netanyahu
and Abbas were serious about peace and said the first round of talks last week
in Washington exceeded his expectations.
"I am stunned at how cordial and constructive the talks
were," he said.
But Obama's main message on the call was a plea to the rabbis
to actively support the talks, or at least not to actively undermine them.
He asked the religious leaders to help him promote the talks
among Jewish communities both in American and Israel, and "to give these talks
a chance and not look for a reason why they won't succeed."
Regarding interfaith relations in the United States and the
treatment of Muslim Americans in particular, Obama again asked the rabbis for
help. "It is very important for leaders in the Jewish [community] to speak from
a deep moral authority in making sure that those Muslim-Americans trying to
practice their faith in this country can do so without fear or intimidation,"
he said.
He did not mention the Park 51 Community Center project by
name.
On Iran, Obama argued that the sanctions announced by the United
Nations, the United States, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and others
were having an effect on the regime in Tehran.
"Every assessment that we've seen so far is that the degree
of international coordination that's being implied in enforcing these sanctions
is unprecedented and the Iranian regime has been shocked by our success," Obama
said. He said the Israeli assessment matched his own.
While the peace talks and the Iran threat are not
necessarily linked, Obama told the rabbis that resolving Israel's disputes with
its neighboring Arab states would increase Iran's isolation.
Obama also delivered a message of urgency regarding the
peace talks. "If that window closes,
it's going to be hard to reopen for years to come," he said. "We're not going
to get that many more opportunities."Obama wished all the rabbis "L'shana
Tovah," which means Happy New Year in Hebrew, and "Todah Rabah," which means
thank you.
"With you I hope and pray this year will be a year of health
and happiness, joy and justice, and ultimately perhaps a year of peace," he
said.
COMMENTS (6)
Read More
