Putting Lipstick on a Middle East Pig

Word has leaked out that going into his "trilateral" with Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Obama was flustered and upset with their lack of progress with each other.

Obama is angry -- in a somewhat cool-headed Obamaesque way.

He just chastised both in his statement -- saying that neither side had done enough to move final status negotiations forward.

What is clear is that Barack Obama did not get the settlement freeze he called for from Netanyahu.

Via excellent reporting from Laura Rozen, here is a clip of President Obama's statement:

I have just concluded frank and productive bilateral meetings with both Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas. And I want to thank them both for appearing here today. I am now looking forward to this opportunity to hold the first meeting among the three of us since we took office.

As I said throughout my campaign and at the beginning of my administration, the United States is committed to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East. That includes a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that results in two states, Israel and Palestine, in which both the Israeli people and the Palestinian people can live in peace and security and realize their aspirations for a better life for their children.

That is why my Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and my Special Envoy George Mitchell have worked tirelessly to create the context for permanent status negotiations. And we have made progress since I took office in January and since Israelis -- Israel's government took office in April. But we still have much further to go.

Palestinians have strengthened their efforts on security, but they need to do more to stop incitement and to move forward with negotiations. Israelis have facilitated greater freedom of movement for the Palestinians and have discussed important steps to restrain settlement activity. But they need to translate these discussions into real action on this and other issues. And it remains important for the Arab states to take concrete steps to promote peace.

Simply put it is past time to talk about starting negotiations -- it is time to move forward. It is time to show the flexibility and common sense and sense of compromise that's necessary to achieve our goals. Permanent status negotiations must begin and begin soon. And more importantly, we must give those negotiations the opportunity to succeed.

And so my message to these two leaders is clear. Despite all the obstacles, despite all the history, despite all the mistrust, we have to find a way forward. We have to summon the will to break the deadlock that has trapped generations of Israelis and Palestinians in an endless cycle of conflict and suffering. We cannot continue the same pattern of taking tentative steps forward and then stepping back. Success depends on all sides acting with a sense of urgency. And that is why I have asked Secretary Clinton and Senator Mitchell to carry forward the work that we do here today.

Senator Mitchell will meet with the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators next week. I've asked the Prime Minister and the President to continue these intensive discussions by sending their teams back to Washington next week. And I've asked the Secretary of State to report to me on the status of these negotiations in mid-October.

All of us know this will not be easy. But we are here today because it is the right thing to do. I look forward to speaking with my colleagues. I'm committed to pressing ahead in the weeks and months and years to come, because it is absolutely critical that we get this issue resolved. It's not just critical for the Israelis and the Palestinians, it's critical for the world, it is in the interests of the United State. And we are going to work as hard as necessary to accomplish our goals. Thanks.

Barack Obama must have hated making this statement.

It shows that despite all their efforts, his team has not moved the game forward, and he really doesn't like putting lipstick on a pig.

Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note

 

Follow Steve Clemons on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SCClemons

Comments

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

There will be another "war" between Israel and Palestinians with in a year.

[seawolf77]

Like Bill Maher said it is called the Middle East becasue everything that went to China and India and vice versa went thru the middle. So when Columbus was looking for another way it was because he would rather sail off the edge of the world than deal with those people.

[mergina]

Where is the lipstick on a pig argument for health care anyway?

[duxguts]

My my, this comes as a complete surprise to me.

[syvanen]

Terribly frustrating. Looks like Israel will just be allowed to continue expanding the West Bank settlements. It did seem at one point that the US would have enough influence to at least stop that part of the problem. But apparently not. And we are paying the bills. Oh when will that day come when the US can finally say enough -- 'Israelis and Arabs work it out for yourselves, just don't come begging to us for more handouts'.

[Rog49Thomas]

Note the key word "restrain" rather than "end".

[Rog49Thomas]

Quelle surprise!

[StephCaster]

As long as it involves making "pledges" the peace process will move forward. But whenever it comes time for Isreal to act on the promises it has made, forget it. Sometimes it's the same old tired excuses, but often they can't even be bothered with excuses: too busy building (or destroying) "facts on the ground".

[HelloFunnyWorld]

Pity the US President.­...
Maybe this situation is like this joke making the rounds: 'Buy earth, get land. They're not making any more of it, remember?'
And -
Perhaps Mr.Obama ought to pressure Aipac to help out here and do the morally right things to make a real Peace between the two??

[den1953]

As long as the American tax payer keeps footing the bill there will be no peace between the Jews and the Arabs that region is a cash cow for both parties!

[synick]

If all it took to seal a peace deal was for the Israelis to freeze settlements, there would have been peace long ago. Settlements has now become the convenient excuse for BOTH sides to refrain from negotiations.
The Israelis claim they are necessary for security, appease political factions..­. We all know that they are not.
By the same token, the Palestinians already know that it is no longer practical to think that the Israelis will pull completely out of the West Bank or will surrender 1/2 of Jerusalem for their capital.
It should be incumbent upon POTUS to clarify what both sides cannot admit, ask them to place the issue aside and get on with a meaningful negotiation that will end the Israeli occupation and will establish a autonomous Palestinian state with security for Israel, compensation for East Jerusalem and the major settlements and no right of return.

[rickd24]

Very good points. Nice to see a balanced comment on this subject on HuffPost that recognizes that neither side is 100% right or 100% wrong. I'm 100% pro-Israel, but that doesn't mean that I don't recognize that continuing to build settlements means a continuation of the conflict. If there is to be peace someday, most of the settlements will have to go, so why continue to build them?

[fbacon2]

Sooooo... what should he do, Steve?

[Arithrianos]

The settlements will never stop IMHO, since a critical part of the Israeli government wants ALL of "greater Israel" for the Jews only, and since you cannot form a government without them, noone is going to step on their toes by actually abiding by international law.

[JoeSchmuk]

Copy that.

[GZLives]

Building apartments isn't the problem at all.
The vast majority of Israelis have always been in favor of a two state solution, but their complete withdrawal from Gaza in 2001 which resulted in 12,000 Arab rockets and mortar shells fired from a closer distance into their cities didn't build very much confidence to now do the same in the W Bank where the rockets will reach Ben Gurion Airport and Tel Aviv.

[Arithrianos]

There are "terrorists" on both sides. A pox on both their houses, this is a classic example of a hell realm, where as Buddha said you breath fire at your "enemy", but you are inside a metal pot, so all that does is heat things up for you. Both sides are in their own hell, and it is fixed ideas about who owns what on both sides direct from "I AM that I AM" that make this thing impossible. The only solutioon is love, even if it hurts, but i am not holding my breath. The hell realms are supossed to be very long lasting.

[ramblin jack]

Simplistic response