Israel would lose nothing, and potentially gain everything, by agreeing to a temporary moratorium on construction in the settlements for a short period of time, Congressman Robert Wexler, a close political ally of US President Barack Obama and a stalwart Israel supporter, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (left) and US President Barack Obama share a moment of laughter during their meeting in the White House.
Photo: Moshe Milner / GPO

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Wexler, on his third visit to Israel since December, met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, a day after Defense Minister Ehud Barak and US Middle East envoy George Mitchell met in New York and decided that the discussion over settlement construction would continue.

"A request for a moratorium or freeze in settlement activity that can be mutually agreed upon by the US and Israel in the next several weeks is a tiny, tiny gesture and down payment to make when you look at potentially what is on the other side of the equation," said Wexler.

On other side of the equation, he said, were 22 Arab countries being urged by the US to take significant steps now towards normalization with Israel.

"I want to call their bluff," Wexler said. "I want to see, if Israel makes substantial movement toward a credible peace process, whether they are willing to do it. And if they are not, better that we should find out five or six months into the process, before Israel is actually asked to compromise any significant position."

Asked what would happen if Israel were to say no to the moratorium request, Wexler said, "I don't think Israel will say no. I don't see an equation where it is in Israel's interest to say no, so I believe Israel will say yes, under a certain set of qualifications that Israel will agree to. This is one hundred percent in Israel's national security interest."

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is sean at the US Independence Day reception at the residence of US Ambassador to Israel James Cunningham in Herzliya.
Photo: gpo

Regarding the types of "qualifications," Wexler said that that was up to the Israeli prime minister to decide.

"Any process of discussion requires compromise, particularly amongst friends and allies if they are coming from different points," he said, adding that every reasonable actor in the process understands that in a political dynamic there must be give and take.

Wexler bewailed that while the US demands on Israel were highlighted in the Israeli press, Washington's demands on the Arab world were not gaining similar attention.

According to Wexler, the Obama administration was making "equal, if not greater, demands on the Arab world in the context of starting the process and negotiations."

Wexler said that the demands on the Arab world - Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and the North African Arab states - were quite substantial in terms of steps of normalization. He said what was being discussed were trade offices, direct economic links, cultural and educational exchanges and over-fly rights for Israeli air carriers.

Moreover, he said the US was "open to suggestions from the Israeli side as to all the different indicators of normalization that would be important for Israel and that would create credibility among the Israeli public."

An Israeli settlement moratorium could go a long way toward moving that normalization process ahead, he said.

When asked why the Arab world couldn't first show signs of a willingness to normalize before Israel declares a moratorium, Wexler characterized such a demand as "childish."

Wexler, a liberal Democratic congressman from South Florida who was the first high-profile Jewish politician outside of Illinois to endorse Obama's presidential candidacy in 2007, said Obama was asking Israel for a moratorium on settlements, and a relaxing of conditions in the West Bank consistent with Israel's security requirements, in exchange for the Palestinians' adhering to their security conditions and responsibilities, and the Arab world being given a set of responsibilities that has not been given in the past.

"And if the Arab world fails to deliver," Wexler said, "you can rightly say that all bets are off."

Wexler dismissed concerns that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was waiting for Obama to "deliver" Israel while the PA made no conciliatory steps, saying that if he did believe that, he was disabused of the notion by Obama's positive response to Netanyahu's speech last month at Bar-Ilan University.

"If in fact the Palestinians believed that the American posture was that they didn't have to do anything, and the Americans would take care of this, then I think they learned the hard way," he said.

Wexler was also dismissive of the notion that the US was pushing Israel hard on the settlement issue as a way of bringing down the Netanyahu government.

"The president of the US does not have a view, or an opinion, or either a tactical or strategic posture on the government of Israel," he said. "The idea that the president, or anyone in any position of responsibility in Washington, is designing a process to undermine the policy or position or standing of the government of Israel is absurd."

Channel 1 reported last night that according to an Israeli source, Obama would be announcing his Mideast peace plan within a month.

Netanyahu on Wednesday night called Israel's bond with the United States "unbreakable."

"We have a brave relationship with the United States, a bond that President Obama himself defined as unbreakable; Indeed, our bond with the US is unbreakable," Netanyahu said, speaking at the US Independence Day reception at the American ambassador's residence in Herzliya.

Netnayhu went on to praise the US, calling the country a model for freedom and values.

In an allusion to the Iranian nuclear program, Netanyahu said freedom has usually triumphed over repressive regimes, but warned that the world order could break down if tyrannical regimes obtain weapons of mass destruction.

"The greatest danger facing our world today is that this historical consistency of the triumph and spread of democracy could change if the world's worst regimes acquire the world's most dangerous weapons," he said.

Netanyahu did not mention Iran, but he has often warned against allowing Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. Iran has denied it is pursuing nuclear weapons.

The prime minister went on to stress that the State of Israel and its citizens deeply appreciate the US, noting that several of Jerusalem's streets are named after former US presidents.

US Ambassador to Israel James Cunningham also mentioned the strong bond to Israel, and said the US is committed to the security of Israel and to the security of Israel's citizens.

Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report

A senior Palestinian Muslim cleric on Wednesday urged Muslims to travel to Jerusalem, breaking a taboo against visiting the holy city because it would be considered as normalizing relations with Israel.

Palestinian school girls walk near the Dome of the Rock Mosque, in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, also known to Jews as the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City.
Photo: AP

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Speaking at a press conference in Cairo, Sheikh Tayseer al-Timimi said Muslims should travel to Jerusalem and perform pilgrimage to Muslim holy places in the disputed city, backtracking on an earlier edict.

"I withdraw my fatwa (edict) and now ask all Muslims and (Arab) Christians to creep into Jerusalem for a visit, satisfaction and shopping," al-Timimi said.

"Come to the Palestinian hotels and come to the Palestinian markets," said the Palestinian cleric.

Al-Timimi had previously banned Muslims from visiting Jerusalem, arguing that would be considered normalizing relations with Israel.

Other Muslim clerics also ban such visits, saying Muslims should wait until a Palestinian state is established with east Jerusalem as its capital.

Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque is one of Islam's most sacred shrines and Arabs and Muslims used to visit regularly to worship there until 1967.

Al-Timimi's call would likely not affect Muslims in countries such as Syria or Saudi Arabia, who do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, but it could encourage Muslims in other places such as India or Egypt which do.

The cleric's call comes amid reports that the United States is urging Arab nations to take some steps to normalize relations with Israel as incentives for the Jewish state to revive the peace process with Palestinians.

US Mideast envoy George Mitchell has reportedly proposed that Arab states reopen Israeli diplomatic missions and allow Israeli commercial planes to fly in their air space and grant entry to Israeli tourists. Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab states that allow this today.

US President Barack Obama's administration has been pushing all sides to increase efforts to achieve "comprehensive peace" between Israel, an independent Palestinian state and the broader Arab world. But Arab countries, which launched a collective peace initiative in 2002, have been reluctant to take additional steps without first getting concessions from Israel.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has so far refused to concede to US demands that Israel stop settlement construction in the West Bank and commit to the creation of a Palestinian state.

JERUSALEM, Israel - Israel and the U.S. remained at odds over the issue of Israeli building in settlements, following a meeting between Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and U.S. special Middle East envoy George Mitchell on Tuesday.

Topping the agenda of their four-hour meeting was the issue of construction in Jewish communities in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).

According to a joint statement released after the meeting, the two discussed a "full range of issues related to Middle East peace and security" and "contributions" that Israel, the Palestinians, Arab countries and international community should make to the effort.

Specifically, the discussions "covered a wide range of measures needed to create a climate conducive to peace," the statement said.

For the Palestinians, that included taking measures regarding security and incitement. For the Arab states, it meant taking steps toward normalization of relations with Israel. And for Israel, it focused on easing access and movement for Palestinians in the West Bank and on settlement activity 

The discussions are set to continue in two weeks between Mitchell and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and press reports indicated that a deal was pending. 

Tensions have been high recently over Washington's demand that Israel completely freeze construction in Israeli communities in the West Bank. But Israel has said that while it will not build new settlements, it will continue to build in existing communities where some 300,000 Israelis live.

A sign of just how strained relations have become is Likud parliamentarian Danny Danon's call for fellow Knesset members to boycott the U.S. Embassy's 4th of July celebrations in Tel Aviv this week. The prestigious event is held annually at the ambassador's residence.

In a letter, Danon said that statements from American government representatives "regarding Israel's commitment to stop building in Judea and Samaria, including natural growth" and statements accusing Israel of lying to the White House over the years "seriously damage Israel's honor."

Danon called on Knesset members to skip the event to "deliver to the American administration a clear message – that the State of Israel is independent and not President Obama's pet."

Other reports have said the Obama administration is interested in toning down the settlement conflict between the U.S. and Israel, recognizing that it does not serve U.S. interests in the Middle East.

A "settlement freeze" was part of the road map peace plan but Israel – and recently some officials from former President George Bush's administration – said there was an agreement that Israel could continue building for "natural growth" in existing communities.

Earlier this week, Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said that former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon never would have entered into the "road map" without such an understanding, and Israel was expecting the U.S. to abide by that agreement.

"Settlement freeze, the term used in that agreement, was interpreted in an agreed way by Israel and America and acted upon for six years. We haven't heard a word for six years from the American administration on the way it was done," Meridor said.

Sources - The Jerusalem Post, YNet, Ha'aretz

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