Washington, March 21: The top pro-Israel lobby opens its annual policy conference here Sunday keeping up the pressure to defuse a US-Israeli row over the Middle East peace process and to divert attention to Iran.
Evan Bayh, a democatic Senator, and Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, will be the keynote speakers at a massive show of US-Israeli unity staged by the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Events are due to begin around 9:30 a.m. with more than 7,000 guests due at the convention center here in Washington.
They will set the tone for Monday when both US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and hardline Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who have recently exchanged bitter words on illegal Jewish settlements — will deliver speeches.
In the runup to the three-day annual policy conference, AIPAC had urged President Barack Obama’s administration to defuse tension over plans for expanding illegal Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem that endanger new US-brokered peace talks.
Clinton demanded and received a response from Netanyahu — which came while she was in Moscow to consult with international partners on the peace process — about US concerns over the impact of the settlements.
“What I heard from the prime minister in response for the request we made was useful and productive, and we’re continuing our discussions with him and his government,” Clinton told reporters in Moscow, softening the tone.
The chief US diplomat and Netanyahu are expected to hold talks on the sidelines of AIPAC.
Netanyahu’s office said he had suggested “mutual confidence-building measures” that could be carried out by Israel and the Palestinians.
Neither side gave details, including whether or not Netanyahu met US demands, which reportedly include halting the plans for the illegal settlements and making conciliatory gestures to the Palestinians.
The Israeli government has so far refused to halt the new illegal plans.
US envoy George Mitchell is set to hold talks with Netanyahu in Israel on Sunday and Palestinian authority chairman Mahmud Abbas on Monday to keep alive the agreement both made to hold indirect peace talks.
In protest at the settlement announcement, the Palestinians had threatened to call off the so-called proximity talks, which would be the first of any kind since Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip in December 2008.
AIPAC spokesman Josh Block said conference participants will talk “about the unbreakable bonds between the United States and Israel, and the shared challenges we face.”
These, he said, include “stopping Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons capability and supporting Israel’s quest for peace with all of her Arab neighbors.”
Analysts say the row over settlements might complicate a US-led drive for tougher sanctions against Iran over its uranium enrichment program.
Israel has threatened military strikes against Iran.
In addition to Netanyahu, Israeli centrist opposition leader Tzipli Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are set to attend.
—Agencies