Washington, July 29: Despite its failure to get the Israeli government, led by rightwing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to halt colony expansion in the Palestinian territories, the Obama administration has sent letters to several Arab leaders asking them to make concessions to Israel, reports confirmed.
“President Barack Obama has sent letters to at least seven Arab and Gulf states seeking confidence-building measures toward Israel, which Washington has been pushing to agree to a freeze of Jewish colonies in the West Bank,” American global politics magazine Foreign Policy reported.
The magazine, quoting American and Arab officials, said the letters were sent to Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia among others.
The measures proposed by Israel and the US, according to Foreign Policy, include the reopening in Qatar of the Israeli trade office, allowing Israeli planes to use airspace of Arab countries, and Arab leaders granting interviews to Israeli journalists.
The latter idea was endorsed by Bahrain’s Crown Prince Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa who last week said Arab nations should “tell our story more directly to the Israeli people by getting the message out to their media.”
“These letters were sent some time ago,” a White House official told Foreign Policy. “The President has always said that everyone will have to take steps for peace.”
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has publicly raised the possibility of halting construction in colonies while allowing building projects under way to continue, as part of a deal in which Arab countries would take initial steps to normalise relations with Israel.
But after meeting with Netanyahu on Tuesday, Obama’s Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell admitted he had failed to get Israel to commit to halting colony construction.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday told Mitchell peace talks with Israel, suspended since late last year, could not resume unless Netanyahu halted all colony activity.
The same message was conveyed to Mitchell by Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa during their meeting in Cairo on Sunday. He said Arabs will not make any concessions to Israel outside the Arab Peace Initiative, which offers Israel normal ties with Arab states in return for full withdrawal from land occupied in 1967.
-Agencies