Still time to act

In a recent statement to Israel Radio and Army Radio, the American ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, said that the current state of Israeli-Palestinian relations is characterised by a set of circumstances “that are leading to a bi-national state”.

Israel’s continued expansion of settlements on occupied territory in the West Bank, in contravention of international law and conventions, and the restive Palestinian population, despairing at the lack of any prospect for peace, and whose many youth seem to have reached a point where they do not care about their lives anymore, are obviously making the likelihood of two states remote, if not unlikely.

There is nothing actually surprising in what the US diplomat is saying.

Jordan, and many in the international community with a clear view of the situation and a level head, has been saying the same thing for many years, having come to the realisation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist government has no intention of reaching peace with the Palestinians.

If Washington is indeed convinced that the Israeli policy as drawn by Netanyahu will lead to even more violence and will make the prospect of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more remote, what does it intend to do about it?

President Barack Obama is at the end of his term in office. Even if viewed as a lame-duck president, he, his country, can still do much to solve the Palestinian question by applying more pressure on the defiant Israeli government — the ungrateful biggest recipient of aid — and leave a legacy he can be proud of, having made a difference at last in the Middle East.

Obama still has almost one year in office, ample time for him to act, now unencumbered by the worry of pleasing this or that lobby to get re-elected.

He could live up to his promise of leaving the world, the Middle East included, a better place.

The reality is that the US alone can exercise its clout with Israel.

Will Obama do something or will he “retire” like all the other US presidents, leaving the Middle East in more turmoil and the prime reason for radicalisation — Palestine — an issue to be solved by future generations?