It would be an understatement to say that the Obama administration has shot itself in the foot this week by stepping back from its initial call for a total Settlement freeze in the Palestinian territories and instead complimenting a partial and temporary halt that the Israeli government has agreed to. The misstep is fueling anger and disappointment in the Arab Street, that unless Washington shows seriousness about achieving a total freeze and readiness to layout policy implications of the violations, it might be risking losing its credibility in mediating the conflict. While U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton intended to convey a sense of urgency in resuming negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians rather than a change in the U.S. position on Settlements, it is the latter that was understood from her remarks earlier this week in Jerusalem. Secretary Clinton, standing next to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Sunday, called his government's decision to agree to a Settlement restraint in the West Bank “unprecedented”. She also refrained from reiterating the call for a “total freeze” that she had requested last May after meeting her Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman in Washington. The remarks have triggered an angry reaction in the Arab Street, besides being used by the cynics to dismiss President Obama's ability to bring peace, and by the extremists to pressure the moderates against making any compromises to Israel. The efforts by the administration later in the week to back track and reaffirm the US long stated position that “does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements” and that Netanyahu's offer “falls far short of what we would characterize as our position”, is coming too little, too late, at this point in the debate. With the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announcing yesterday that he will not seek reelections in January (if those elections were to take place), and an increased perception of him as being weak and let down by the administration, Washington needs to strike a stronger tone on Settlements to restore Abbas' credibility. The administration should reaffirm its goal in reaching a total Settlement freeze, and make it clear that there will be policy implications for Settlement expansion and any other violations of the Roadmap. If President Barack Obama ends up meeting Netanyahu during his visit to Washington next week to participate in the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations, this could be an opportunity for him to take a strong, unambiguous stance on the issue. The Arab Street saw in the administration's early call for a total freeze a sign of hope and that it can be a fair broker in the process. Whether the U.S. efforts will lead to such a freeze before or after the negotiations is irrelevant to the mood in the Arab world today. The resentment is mostly generated from the administration flip flopping on the issue and backing down on its first disagreement with Israel.
