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Version 10 Version 11
This Time, No Call to Halt Settlements This Time, No Call to Halt Settlements
(about 5 hours later)
RAMALLAH, West Bank — President Obama, visiting the Israeli-occupied West Bank, appeared to move closer to the Israeli position on Thursday regarding resumption of long-stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, stopping short of insisting on a halt to Israel’s settlement expansion as he had done early in his first term. JERUSALEM — President Obama, appealing to very disparate audiences to solve one of the world’s thorniest problems, moved closer on Thursday to the Israeli government’s position on resuming long-stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, even as he passionately implored young Israelis to get ahead of their own leaders in the push for peace.
Hours after rockets from the Palestinian enclave of Gaza hit southern Israel, Mr. Obama met with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority on the second day of Mr. Obama’s Middle East trip, and challenged both sides to resume face-to-face talks, pledging that the United States “would do our part.” Addressing an enthusiastic crowd of more than 2,000, Mr. Obama offered a fervent, unsparing case for why a peace agreement was both morally just and in Israel’s self-interest. Younger Israelis, Mr. Obama said, should empathize with their Palestinian neighbors living under occupation — or, as he put it, “look at the world through their eyes.”
Mr. Obama condemned the rocket attacks, which came in violation of a three-month cease-fire, but he insisted that the Israelis should not use violence as an excuse to avoid negotiations, no more than the Palestinians should insist that Israel halt construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank as a condition. Hours earlier, visiting the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Mr. Obama urged the Palestinians to return to the bargaining table even if Israel did not meet their condition of halting construction of Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories — a demand he, too, made at the start of his first term, but which had only a temporary, partial impact.
“If we’re going to be successful, part of what we’re going to have to do is get out of the formulas and habits that have blocked progress,” Mr. Obama said in a news conference with Mr. Abbas. “Both sides are going to have to think anew.” It was a striking mix of big-stage inspiration and closed-door compromise: with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Obama was laboring to nudge two stubborn adversaries; with a younger generation, he was going over the two men’s heads, seeking to stir popular enthusiasm for his vision of peace.
Mr. Abbas reiterated his demand that Israel halt settlement construction, but he did not explicitly cite that as a condition for entering into direct talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Talks have basically been stalled since 2010. Yet it also attested to the intractable nature of Middle East peacemaking over the past decade. By not renewing his demand that Israel halt settlement construction to get a new round of talks started, Mr. Obama was, in effect, conceding that years of careful study about how to nudge the peace process forward had failed to produce tangible results.
“It is the duty of the Israeli government to at least halt the activity, so we can speak of the issues,” Mr. Abbas said in Arabic, speaking through a translator. “The issue of settlements is clear: we never gave up our vision, whether now or previously.” “Speaking as a politician, I can promise you this: political leaders will not take risks if the people do not demand that they do,” Mr. Obama said, in tones reminiscent of his own political campaigns at home. “You must create the change that you want to see.”
Mr. Abbas, who met with Mr. Obama for more than an hour at the fortresslike headquarters of the Palestinian Authority here, did not condemn the rocket attacks in his statement. Standing before a blue-and-white banner emblazoned with the emblem of the Israeli state — a menorah flanked by olive branches — Mr. Obama spoke of the past and the future, from the biblical story of Exodus and from Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, to Israel’s reputation as a high-tech incubator with a mania for social media.
Majlis Shura al-Mujahedeen, a Salafi group, claimed responsibility for the rockets, saying in a statement that they were a message from “Bin Laden soldiers” to Mr. Obama that Americans should not feel secure as long as Muslims do not. “Israel,” he said to prolonged applause, “is rooted not just in history and tradition, but also in a simple and profound idea: the idea that people deserve to be free in a land of their own.”
For Mr. Obama, even a brief foray to the West Bank on the second day of his trip was enough to plunge him back into the diplomatic nuances and perils of Middle East peacemaking. Mr. Obama’s warm reception, after a polite but formal welcome by Mr. Netanyahu, recalled a visit by the Israeli prime minister to Washington in May 2011. Mr. Netanyahu, after rebuffing a peace proposal by Mr. Obama, spoke to Congress, receiving 29 standing ovations.
What was surprising, given how much Mr. Obama appeared to give up on the peace process at the end of his first term, was how ready he seemed to take up the challenge once again of trying to broker a deal that creates a Palestinian state side-by-side with Israel. This week, Mr. Obama avoided proposals but promised that his administration would do its part to advance the process. He is sending Secretary of State John Kerry back to Israel from Jordan on Saturday to meet again with Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Abbas to discuss next steps.
“I absolutely believe it is still possible, but it is very difficult,” Mr. Obama said. “If we can get direct negotiations started again, I believe the shape of a potential deal is there.” The president’s new activism, on the second day of a four-day trip to the Middle East, came hours after rockets from the Palestinian enclave of Gaza hit southern Israel. He condemned the attacks, which broke a three-month cease-fire, but said that the Israelis should not use the violence as an excuse to avoid negotiations.
Gesturing to his new secretary of state, John Kerry, Mr. Obama said the United States would resume its role of trying to bring together the two sides — a painstaking process that has previously involved adopting measures to get over decades of mistrust. “If we’re going to succeed, part of what we’re going to have to do is to get out of some of the formulas and habits that have blocked progress for so long,” Mr. Obama said, as Mr. Abbas stood next to him somberly. “Both sides are going to have to think anew.”
Mr. Obama repeated his criticism of Jewish settlements, particularly in the strategically sensitive area of the West Bank known as the E1 zone. If the Israeli government were to go through with its announcement that it plans to develop that area, east of Jerusalem, Mr. Obama said it would be “very difficult to square with a two-state solution.” For his part, Mr. Abbas reiterated the Palestinian demand that Israel stop settlement construction. But he did not explicitly cite that as a precondition for entering into face-to-face talks with Mr. Netanyahu. Such talks have been quiescent since 2010.
But Mr. Obama did not explicitly call for a halt to such expansion as a condition for peace talks to resume. “It is the duty of the Israeli government to at least halt the activity, so we can speak of the issues,” Mr. Abbas said in Arabic, speaking through an interpreter. “The issue of settlements is clear: we never gave up our vision, whether now or previously.”
The rockets from Gaza, which caused no injuries, exploded in the courtyard of a house in the border town Sderot, which Mr. Obama had visited as a presidential candidate in 2008 and which he often cites as an example of the terror inflicted by these rockets. There are signs that Mr. Abbas may be ready to return to negotiations with the Israelis. A draft copy of his talking points for the session with Mr. Obama, obtained by The New York Times, suggested that he was prepared to soften his long-held demand that Mr. Netanyahu publicly halt all building of settlements in favor of private assurances.
“I’ve stood in Sderot, and met with children who simply want to grow up free from fear,” he said in a news conference Wednesday with Mr. Netanyahu. A senior administration official declined to discuss details of the meeting between Mr. Obama and Mr. Abbas.
There were other signs of a chillier welcome for Mr. Obama in the West Bank than he received a day earlier in Jerusalem. A small band of Palestinians staged an anti-Obama protest on a hillside east of Jerusalem on Wednesday, unfurling a banner that said, “Obama: You promised hope and change, you gave us colonies and apartheid.” Mr. Obama repeated his criticism of settlement projects, particularly in the strategically sensitive area of the West Bank known as E1. If the Israeli authorities go through with plans to develop that area, it will be “very difficult to square with a two-state solution,” he said.
Still, the meeting came amid new signs that Mr. Abbas is eager to return to negotiations with the Israelis. A draft copy of his talking points for the session with Mr. Obama, obtained by The New York Times, suggested that Mr. Abbas was ready to soften his long-held demand that Mr. Netanyahu halt all building of Jewish settlements as precondition for the Palestinians returning to talks with the Israelis. Still, Mr. Obama did not explicitly call for a halt to such development as a condition for peace talks to resume. The senior official said that while Mr. Obama would continue to discourage building in areas like E1, there were other measures both sides could take to smooth the way for face-to-face talks. He declined to be specific.
If Mr. Netanyahu were to assure Mr. Abbas privately that building would be halted while negotiations were under way, the draft said, that would be sufficient. Palestinians officials cautioned Wednesday evening that the talking points for Mr. Abbas had not been completed. The rocket attacks, which hit the border town of Sderot, caused no injuries, but they offered another glimpse into hardened attitudes. “I’ve stood in Sderot, and met with children who simply want to grow up free from fear,” Mr. Obama said. Mr. Abbas, stone faced, said nothing.
The president’s visit, administration officials said, is part of a concerted push to show American support for the Palestinian Authority, which has been hamstrung by a fiscal crisis and fighting a loss of credibility since its Islamic militant rival, Hamas, won Palestinian elections in Gaza in 2006 and seized control of the territory a year later. In the president’s speech, which was broadcast live from the convention center and was widely viewed as the centerpiece of his first trip to Israel as president, he conceded that many Israelis had qualms about the Palestinians getting their own state.
On Wednesday in Jerusalem, Mr. Obama noted that last year was the first year in four decades in which not a single Israeli citizen was killed in a terrorist act originating in the West Bank. “I recognize that there are those who are not simply skeptical about peace, but question its underlying premise,” he said. “But it is important to be open and honest with one another.”
But Mr. Obama has also muted his call for Israel to halt the construction of Jewish settlements. In his speech to the Muslim world in 2009, he said this “construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.” “Politically, given the strong bipartisan support for Israel in America, the easiest thing for me to do would be to put this issue aside and express unconditional support for whatever Israel decides to do,” Mr. Obama said to scattered laughter from an audience that clearly understood the dynamics of Washington.
In Jerusalem on Wednesday, Mr. Obama did not use the word settlements when he offered an explanation of why his first-term peacemaking efforts had failed. Mr. Obama spent Thursday morning at the Israel Museum viewing the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hebrew parchments that testify to the ancient link of the Jewish people to this land. But Mr. Obama said that seeking peace was not only in the finest traditions of Israel, it was also in the self-interest of a plucky country with a thriving high-tech economy that could turn itself into a powerhouse if it emerged from the isolation that has resulted from decades of conflict.
Pressed about settlements by a Palestinian reporter, Mr. Obama described them as “inappropriate.” But he also said he understood that the politics of settlements in Israel were complicated. Echoing a theme he first articulated in his speech to the Muslim world in 2009, Mr. Obama said the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza imposed a shameful human cost.
Mr. Netanyahu has been calling for a resumption of peace talks with Mr. Abbas, without preconditions, but has warned in the past that any practical reconciliation between Mr. Abbas and Hamas would stymie any progress with Israel. “Put yourself in their shoes — look at the world through their eyes,” he said. “It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents, every single day.”
After the rocket fire, a senior Israeli official said: “We will be watching very closely today to see if President Abbas condemns this rocket attack against Israeli civilians. Last year in the face of similar attacks he refused to condemn these acts by terrorists in Gaza.” “Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer,” Mr. Obama said. “Just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land.”
The rockets were the first to land in a built-up area since November. A single rocket was fired by Gaza militants in late February and landed harmlessly on a road outside the city of Ashkelon. That was apparently a response to the death of a Palestinian prisoner in disputed circumstances in an Israeli jail. Israel temporarily closed a commercial goods crossing into Gaza in response and announced a similar measure on Thursday. With an early reference to a wildly popular Israeli television comedy, “Eretz Nehederet,” Mr. Obama got a warm reception from his audience. But he was interrupted by a heckler, later identified as Rabiyah Aid, a 24-year-old Arab-Israeli student from Haifa, who was escorted out.
From the Palestinian perspective, the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank is one of the contentious issues blocking a return to peace effort and Mr. Abbas renewed a demand on Thursday for the Israeli authorities to “stop settlements in order to discuss all our issues and their concerns.” Mr. Aid, who was drowned out in boos, told reporters he was protesting “against the occupation and for the liberation of Palestine.” The president turned the incident into a joke, saying, “We actually arranged for that because it made me feel at home.”
Sara Haziza, 47, said she was cleaning her home in Sderot for the upcoming Passover holiday around 7:15 a.m. when she heard the familiar siren warning of an incoming rocket. She said she grabbed her 8-year-old daughter, Alian, from bed and ran to the so-called safe room, where they heard an explosion very close by as the rocket landed in their yard and sprayed their home with shrapnel.

Reporting was contributed by Rick Gladstone in New York; Isabel Kershner and Jodi Rudoren from Jerusalem; Fares Akram from Gaza; Rina Castelnuovo from Sderot, Israel; and Alan Cowell from Paris.

“After months of calm it is a harsh reminder,” Ms. Haziza said in an interview. “This is no way to live. Announcing ‘no casualties’ is wrong because you do not understand what happens later to us, coping with panic and fear — fear in which we raise our children.
“I hope that President Obama, who visited us before, understands what kind of impossible life we have here,” she added.
Ms. Haziza’s husband, Yossi, 53, said his message to the president would be: “Think what you would have done if your citizens would have gone under rocket attack like we do here. That is precisely what we have to do here to stop it with your help.”

Reporting was contributed by Alan Cowell from Paris, Isabel Kershner and Jodi Rudoren from Jerusalem, Fares Akram from Gaza and Rina Castelnuovo from Sderot, Israel.