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ASIA TIMES

March 25, 2013


[Re Low expectations color Obama's Israel trip,
March 19, 2013] Despite a lot of garbage and ambient noise, let us be
very clear about the president of the United States in Israel in 2013.
About a year ago, you had the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin
Netanyahu, in Washington, sitting in the Oval Office arrogantly and what
some said amounting to bullying, lecturing the president.


Then, being cheered on by the Israel-can-do-no-wrong crowd in the
Congress, media and think tanks, the prime minister tried his best to
guarantee the election of the president's opponent, Mitt Romney. As far
as peace with the Palestinians, and a two-state solution, there was a
lot of bobbing and weaving and the prime minister had to be dragged,
kicking and screaming, to say those words. And settlements continued at a
feverish pace. Now, President Obama in Israel basks in a resounding
re-election victory, despite the prime minister's efforts to wound him
politically.


The prime minister, however, in his hubris, wounded himself politically
in his own election expecting to be coronated, instead, barely
surviving. Today we have a totally chastened prime minister, changing
his tune voluntarily, declaring "historic compromises" in relation to
peace with the Palestinians. That is something that must happen,
successive Israeli national security advisors have been telling Israeli
politicians for years. It remains to be seen if words will translate
into real accomplishment. Further, after decades of Israeli leadership
(including the prime minister), telling the world that Iran would have a
nuclear weapon the next year, now the prime minister states "I think
there is a misunderstanding about time. If Iran decides to go for a
nuclear weapon - that is to actually manufacture the weapon - then it
will take them about a year." What a difference a year makes in the life
of a politician.


Fariborz S Fatemi


Virginia, USA (Mar 25, '13)