US losing patience with Israel – political analyst

Published: 23 May, 2011, 01:46

 

It is clear that the United States is losing patience with Netanyahu and the overall situation in Israel. Joshua Roberts / Getty Images / AFP

In a speech to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, President Obama has said Israel will face growing isolation without a credible Middle East peace process and repeated his call for Israel to retreat to pre-1967 borders.
“We can’t afford to wait another decade, or another two decades, or another three decades to achieve peace. The world is moving too fast,” said Obama.
The idea of going back to 1967 borders was supported by the Middle-East Quartet, but flatly rejected by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
John Mearsheimer, a political analyst and expert on US-Israeli relations, believes it is clear that the United States is losing patience with Netanyahu and the overall situation in Israel.
“Behind closed doors, the United States is furious with Israel because Israel is pursuing a policy that is not in American national interests,” said the expert.
The expert explained that Obama sees very clearly that Israel is being isolated around the world and the Palestinians are gaining the upper hand in terms of world opinion.
“What’s going to happen here, is that it’s going to be Israel and the United States against the rest of the world. This is disastrous for the United States and this is disastrous for Israel. And that’s the message that Obama is sending to Netanyahu, but unfortunately the message is not getting through”.
However, Mearsheimer added Obama is unlikely to put too much pressure on Israel as he fears it would do great damage to his political future, especially in the light of the forthcoming elections.
“For the foreseeable future there’s virtually no chance that the United States will stop supporting Israel unconditionally. The Israel lobby is just too powerful in this country for any president to really get tough with Israel,” Mearsheimer told RT.