The Senate has passed a resolution, sponsored by 87 of 100 members, calling on the suspension of aid to the Palestinian Authority if it does not return to the bargaining table, a table Netanyahu and Israel have so far refused to set.
The nonbinding resolution, for which AIPAC lobbied intensely, is intended simultaneously as a sarcastic rebuke of President Obama and as a way for Senators to gain an easy, "pro-Israel" voting credential with the election season forthcoming.
In other words, the needs and rights of the Palestinians, once again, have been placed on hold as U.S. lawmakers do AIPAC's bidding for their own perceived political gain. And once again, U.S. lawmakers subtly malign Obama in pursuit of their own electoral agendas.
However, while being backed into a corner domestically by both the Senate and the Israel lobby, President Obama continues to swing away, pressuring Israel to agree to his terms for negotiations. And some unlikely foes are now joining him in this cause.
Obama fights well off the ropes.
The nonbinding resolution (185), initiated by Senators Ben Cardin and Susan Collins, calls the Palestinians' attempt to approach the U.N. as a demonstration of an "absence of a good faith commitment to peace negotiations," and makes several demands of the Palestinians and none of the Israelis. From Haaretz:
[Resolution 185] calls for the Palestinian unity government to “publicly and formally forswear terrorism, accept Israel's right to exist, and reaffirm previous agreements made with the Government of Israel.”
The Senate also called on Obama to announce that the U.S. will veto any resolution on Palestinian statehood that comes before the UN Security Council which is not a result of a peace agreement – and asked him to “lead a diplomatic effort to oppose a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state and to oppose recognition of a Palestinian state by other nations.”
There are two dynamics in play here: the Palestinians as a target, and Obama as a target.
1) The Palestinians as a target: the U.S. Senate is demanding that, in order for the Palestinians to continue receiving U.S. funding – which currently stands at $470 million a year – they must not only accept Israel's right to exist (which the PA and Abbas have done for some time), but they must also reject their own push to exist as a state by going to the U.N. (Note: Abbas would prefer to achieve statehood through a negotiated, two-state settlement,but has yet to find a willing partner in Netanyahu.)
In short, the Senate would like the Palestinians to accept Israel's existence and reject their own. Or be punished.
2) Obama as a target: resolution 185 is a sarcastic, even disingenuous slap of Obama's face, for the resolution calls upon Obama to veto any attempt by the Palestinians to gain statehood via the U.N. in September, something Obama has already publicly stated is a policy position (so long as legitimate opportunities for negotiating with Israel are present). Additionally, the resolution calls upon Obama to review the Palestinians' now-crumbling reconciliation between Hamas and the PA, something Obama also publicly stated needed to be done.
In other words, U.S. senators spent time passing a resolution, subtly rebuking Obama by calling upon him to do those things he has already done.
Genius.
But as Obama is tag-teamed by AIPAC and the Senate, the White House continues to work with European leaders and with Israeli officials to pressure them to accept President Obama's terms for restarting negotiations. In other words, as the Senate throws shadow puppets upon the wall, Obama is trying pressure Israel, behind the scenes, to create a situation in which there will be an actual negotiating table at which the Palestinians could sit. (And signs are pointing to this pressure's effectiveness.)
This week, the president of the World Jewish Congress and a very close friend of Netanyahu, publicly rebuked the Israeli Prime Minister for refusing to negotiate without preconditions, and for viewing Obama's vision as an obstructive pre-condition that Israel cannot accept.
In other words, this week, one of Netanyahu's strongest allies surprisingly slapped him in the face, as the Senate tried to do to Obama.
Only problem: Obama knows how to duck, how to rope-a-dope as everyone takes their fitful swings.
Expect a knockout to happen before September. And I'm betting on it coming from Obama more than anyone else.
Whether such a knockout will garner equal rights and footing for both the Israelis and Palestinians as they negotiate for two-states remains to be seen.