The annual policy conferences of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) usually offer few surprises. As "the nation's major pro-Israel lobby," AIPAC has long led the cheering for unlimited and unquestioning U.S. support of Israel’s harsh policies toward the Palestinians. This year’s conference, however, showed that even AIPAC cannot forever oppose an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
As usual, more than half the members of House and Senate were in attendance to show their support for AIPAC and our Israeli friends. Vice President Biden and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA), however, were more outspoken than usual in their addresses.
Biden first of all assured the audience of the traditional U.S. "commitment to the peace and security of the state of Israel." Then, however, he reminded AIPAC that "all of us have obligations to meet, including the Israeli and Palestinian commitments made in the road map." He first warned the Palestinian Authority that it “must combat terror and incitement against Israel," but then he demanded that “Israel has to work towards a two-state solution. You're not going to like my saying this, but do not build more settlements, dismantle existing outposts, and allow the Palestinians freedom of movement.”
Senator Kerry reminded AIPAC that while the Palestinians "must do enormous work to uphold their end of the bargain," "Israel, too, must take hard steps towards the path to peace." "And nothing will do more to show Israel's commitment to making peace than freezing new settlement activity."
The vice president also told the audience that "the United States and its partners have provided funding and training for a reformed Palestinian security force, which has impressed everyone, including the Israeli security officers with its recent demonstrations of professionalism and effectiveness.” In a recent report, moreover, the State Department credited the Palestinian Authority with improvements in efforts to prevent terrorism.
Perhaps as a conciliatory gesture toward the Obama administration, AIPAC did endorse two congressional letters that unequivocally favor a viable Palestinian state. It was also welcome news that last week Israel handed over to U.N. peacekeepers maps showing where Israeli planes dropped cluster bombs in Lebanon during the 2006 war against the Hezbollah resistance movement. Since then, dozens of Lebanese have been killed and several hundred wounded by the explosives left behind.
Biden’s and Kerry’s warnings come at a time when Israel’s new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has yet to state publicly that he is willing to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, told his staffers: "If you want peace, prepare for war." He also asserted that Israel was not bound by the Annapolis framework of November 2007 for a peace settlement with the Palestinians.
If Netanyahu and Lieberman do not change their positions, they will find themselves on a collision course with a growing segment of Americans and particularly with President Obama. He stated already on April 21: "... at some point steps have to be taken so that people can see progress on the ground. And that will be something that we will expect to take place in the coming months."
An adviser to Netanyahu quoted him as telling George Mitchell, Obama's special envoy to the Middle East: "Israel expects the Palestinians to first recognize Israel as a Jewish state before talking about two states for two peoples.” Netanyahu apparently has not yet understood that Palestinians have the same right as Israelis to be assured of their right to statehood.