Ten days after an Israeli operation to intercept a Gaza aid flotilla left nine dead and sparked international outrage, President Barack Obama met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House Wednesday and encouraged him to engage in direct talks with Israel.
“If we can, over the next several months, try to lift up what are the honest and legitimate concerns of both sides, and if both Palestinians and Israelis can recognize that they have a common interest moving off of what has been this dead end, then I believe that potentially we can make significant progress before the end of the year,” Obama told reporters after meeting with Abbas in the Oval Office.
Abbas, for his part, praised Obama for his peace efforts and seemed to offer more flexibility about the prospect of direct talks than he has in the past.
“With regard to the transitioning from the proximity talks to the direct talks, we did not say — we are not saying that we have conditions. What has happened is that we agreed that, should progress be achieved, then we would move on to direct talks,” Abbas said through a translator.
Indirect Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks, mediated by the United States, have been under way for more than a month, with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell shuttling to the region to conduct a third round last week.
The Obama administration is urging Abbas to agree to direct talks with the Israelis to accelerate progress in the peace process because a partial 10-month moratorium on Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank expires in September.
Obama will press Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend the freeze, including in a White House meeting expected at the end of the month.
In private, Palestinian officials and groups have sought reassurances from the Obama administration that if they accept direct talks with the Israelis. “What guarantees do we have that they will be substantive and that Israel will negotiate seriously about major issues like borders and security and not continue to insist on talking about water and procedural issues?” asked Hussein Ibish of the American Task Force on Palestine, a Washington-based nonprofit group.
Abbas “did not say ‘no’” to the request for direct talks, according to one U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “But as he described it to us, I’d say it is achievable.”
After a private meeting with Obama and expanded discussions with broader foreign policy teams, Abbas had lunch with Mitchell. And Wednesday evening, former Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) was hosting a private dinner for Abbas with about 30 Jewish community leaders and former officials. Among those in attendance were Alan Solow, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Lee Rosenberg, president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; Abe Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League; former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger; and former National Security Council Middle East official Elliott Abrams.
“The result of this visit will be President Abbas’s growing comfort with the idea of proceeding to direct negotiations, using the trust of the president of the United States as a foundation to build upon,” Wexler told POLITICO.
“And all of this needs to be buttressed by America continuing to be seamless with Israel on questions of Israeli security and qualitative advantage, said Wexler, who now serves as president of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace. “That is the non-negotiable, essential ingredient.”
On Thursday, Abbas is scheduled to speak at the Brookings Institution, then go to Capitol Hill to meet with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and other members of the panel.
Also on Wednesday, the Obama administration announced some $400 million in U.S. support for infrastructure, education and economic development initiatives in the West Bank and Gaza, to give Abbas some deliverables to show for his visit.
“We think it’s important for us to reaffirm once again our commitment to improving the day-to-day lives of ordinary Palestinians,” Obama explained.
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