US-Israel relations come under strain

Mohammad Amjad Hossain from Virginia, USA | Published: March 29, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power in 2009 immediately after Barack Obama took office as president of the United States, the relations between the US and Israel did not go well in view of the US President's priority in his foreign policy. Obama insists on two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestine dispute on the basis of 1967 borders while the Israeli hawkish Prime Minister seeks to expand settlements in the occupied territories. This means there is a clash of ideas between the two leaders. President Obama had appointed former Senator George Mitchell a special envoy to negotiate with the Israeli authorities but he failed to make any headway and resigned after one year.
This is not for the first time that relations between the US and Israel deteriorated. During the administration of President Eisenhower, Israel was forced to withdraw forces from the Sinai Peninsula in 1956, but it again occupied the peninsula, Golan Heights and the West Bank during its war with Arab countries in 1967. Israel consolidated its relations with the US too, thanks to the support  from US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who served from 1969 to 1975. Since then, the  US administration has done little to challenge Israel's occupation of the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
During the administration of President George W. Bush of the Republican Party, relations between the US and Israel deteriorated to some extent. Bush had stopped loan to Israel as long as Israel continued settlements of the Jewish in the occupied territories. He agreed to a loan package in August,1992 on condition that Israel should not start building settlements or infrastructure in the occupied territories. Having agreed, President Bush was on record saying," I am a lonely guy up against some powerful political forces made up of a thousand lobbyists on the Hill" (meaning the Congress). His comment triggered a spate of anti-Semitic letters and comments for which President Bush later apologised. In March, 1990, Bush objected to new settlements in the West Bank or in East Jerusalem. His reference to eastern Jerusalem was interpreted as that it was not a sovereign part of Israel. This also created a furore.
The Madrid conference on Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories was held under the initiative of President Bush Senior and President Gorbachev of the Soviet Union from October 30 to November 01,1991. The Bush administration was of the opinion that a window of opportunity was opened to use political gain following the defeat of Saddam Hussein of Iraq in the Gulf war to pursue peace process in the Middle East.  Positive activities of Bush were misinterpreted by the Jewish community in the US. As a result, Bush did not receive  more than 12 per cent votes from the Jewish community in the US in his second-term contest against Democrat candidate Bill Clinton whereas he had received 35 per cent vote of the Jews in his first presidential election in 1988.
As a result of the Madrid conference, President George Bush Junior proposed a roadmap of peace which called for security and reform for the Palestinians and freezing settlements and a  withdrawal from the territories occupied by Israel. The Palestinians and Israel both accepted the idea but the US did not follow it up.
When President Obama took office in January, 2009, he  began to revive peace process with earnestness. In a speech in Cairo in June 2009, Obama called for creation of an independent Palestine state and said, the US does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. It is time for these settlements to stop. Settlement of Jews in the occupied territories has become non-starter as of now. Obama pledged  to aggressively pursue peace process in the Middle East and sent out a special envoy, former Senator George Mitchell. He was critical of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. He was a successful negotiator in resolving the crisis in Northern Ireland in 1995 as the special envoy of President Bill Clinton. The Belfast agreement, negotiated by George Mitchell, was signed by conflicting parties in Northern Ireland.
Netanyahu, a hawk, has also difference with Obama on the issue of negotiation with Iran whom he describes as enemy of Israel. The Israeli Prime Minister has nurtured a negative attitude for formation of a Palestine State. During election campaign in March, Netanyahu declared that there would not be a Palestine state under his watch and pledged to continue settlements of Jews in the occupied territories. This has caused anger in the White House as has been reflected in the comments of President Obama. In an interview with the Huffington Post, he  said, "Israel Prime Minister's rejection of a two-state solution to the  Israeli-Palestine conflict makes it harder to move a path toward serious negotiation to resolve it. I did indicate to him that we continue to believe that a two-state solution is the only way for the long-term security of Israel, if it wants to stay, both as a Jewish state and democratic."
While addressing left-leaning Israeli advocacy group on March 23, James Baker, former Secretary of State under George Bush Senior, criticised the Israeli Prime Minister for an insufficient commitment to peace and an absolutist opposition to the Iranian nuclear talks. James Baker holds the opinion that the Israeli Prime Minister has personalised and politicised disputes between the governments in Washington and Israel which is dangerous.
On top of the dispute between Obama and Netanyahu, spying by Israel on Iranian nuclear talks with the US has added another element to the dispute. According to a White House official, espionage by Israel did not upset the White House as much as Israel's sharing of inside information with US lawmakers and others. Spying  on the US by Israel is nothing new.
Israel has become isolated from the international community. This has been reflected in the voting in the Security Council on December 30, 2014 on the recognition of the Palestine state. Only the US  and Australia exercised negative vote while Argentina, Chad, Chile, China, France, Jordan, Russia and Luxembourg supported the resolution which called on Israel to vacate occupied Palestinian territories within three years and sought a negotiated solution to the conflict within one year. The resolution was not adopted because the Palestinian Authority needed nine votes of Security Council members for adoption of the resolution. But the General Assembly of the United Nations unanimously endorsed Palestinian state on November 30, 2012 by a vote of 138 member-states as against nine votes with 41 member-states abstaining. It is likely that the Obama administration may think twice to skip veto power if the Security Council adopts resolution for establishing a Palestine state as had been reflected in comments of Congressman Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, who is on record saying, "The US might start selectively lifting the American veto on pro-Palestinian resolution."
The writer is a retired diplomat from Bangladesh. amjad.21@gmail.com