vendredi 26 mars 2010

Pour John Kerry il ne faut pas se focaliser sur les implantations

Source: "Kerry to Netanyahu: Let’s drop the whole settlements thing", Josh Rogin, The Cable

The Senate's top foreign relations Democrat joined the calls of many Republicans Tuesday by coming out in favor of tabling the U.S.-Israeli dispute over Jerusalem housing construction.

John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was slated to join a host of lawmakers meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who's in town for AIPAC's annual conference. The Cable caught up to Kerry just before his meeting, and the senior senator from Massachusetts said that he will tell Netanyahu that both the United States and Israel should set the settlements issue aside for now.

"I think what's important now is not to get stuck on the issue of the settlement freeze," Kerry told The Cable. "I think what's important is to get to the table and discuss the final-status talks as rapidly as possible."

Kerry noted that calling for a full settlement freeze has been official U.S. policy for years, under both Democratic and Republican administrations. But he said that was just not the most important thing on the table at this point.

"I think the focus ought to be on the talks themselves," he said. "The clock is ticking and that ticking clock works against Israel's security and it works against our interests in the region."

Kerry's position might look practical considering that Netanyahu continues to reject the reported demands of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Israel reverse its decision to build 1,600 new settlements in disputed East Jerusalem, despite their meeting for 75 minutes on Monday afternoon.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-VA, issued a statement after his bipartisan meeting with Netanyahu saying that "building in the Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem is not an impediment to the peace process." There are signs that the administration is getting the message. For example, Clinton only mentioned settlements once during her AIPAC speech, and other administration officials have refrained from focusing on the issue in their public statements.

State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said at today's press conference that the future of Jerusalem is "a final-status issue," and he too emphasized the need to shelve the settlements dispute in favor of getting to the negotiating table. "The only way to ultimately resolve competing claims, on the future of Jerusalem, is to get to direct negotiations," he said.
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1 commentaire :

Gilles-Michel DEHARBE a dit…

Seulement 42 % des électeurs démocrates accordent une note positive aux Israéliens. C'est la première fois que ce chiffre tombe en dessous de 50 % parmi l’électorat démocrate. Pour les électeurs républicains, les Israéliens peuvent compter sur 92 % d’avis favorables.

L’opinion du public américain sur le Premier ministre israélien Benjamin Netanyahu fait encore plus ressortir le clivage entre les deux camps. Seulement 20 % des Démocrates ont une opinion favorable de Netanyahu tandis qu’ils sont 84 % du côté républicain.

Bien que le rapport de force semble s’inverser durant les dernières années, les Israéliens peuvent toujours compter sur davantage de soutien que les Palestiniens auprès du public américain. L'étude indique aussi que le soutien est en baisse pour les Palestiniens et leur Président. Seulement 21 % des répondants ont un avis positif sur les Palestiniens alors que l'année dernière ils étaient encore 25 %.

Source : Zogby International