Diverging from decades of failed US policy, the White House has ceased the US’ traditional posture of demanding that the Jewish state sacrifice territory in attempts to appease maximalist Palestinian demands.
By: United with Israel Staff
An Israeli official recently disclosed that the United States has reined in previous administrations’ practice of demanding that the Jewish state make concessions to the Palestinians to try to cajole them into engaging in negotiations.
According to a report by Arutz 7, the official explained that the White House appears to have backed away from both Republican and Democratic administrations’ demands that Israel give up territory in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem as carrots to lure intransigent Palestinian negotiators back to the table.
In addition to failed land-for-peace arrangements that the US has attempted to pressure Israel into trying, American administrations have also tried to convince Israel to release Palestinian terrorists and destroy Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, all in the name of furthering the Oslo process, which is seen as a failure by certain Israeli experts.
The White House under Barack Obama, for example, demanded unilateral “good-will gestures” from Israel even before the Jewish state sat down for talks with the Palestinian Authority, reported Arutz 7. Among Obama’s demands was a freeze halting construction in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
The US has apparently largely eliminated its demands for concessions and “gestures” from Israel with regard to discussion about negotiation a solution with the Palestinian Authority.
“[Now], [t]he Americans aren’t talking about concessions,” Arutz 7 quoted the Israeli official as saying.
“They are trying to feel out where we might be flexible, but all the signals are that for the time being, there is no reason to talk about things like [concessions], so long as the Palestinians are not a party to the talks, and it doesn’t even look like they are interested at all in talking with the US,” he added.