Barak was dispatched to the United States after a meeting between Mitchell and Prime Minister Netanyahu was scuttled because Jerusalem refused to bow to American pressure to put a total freeze on building in areas that came under Israeli control in the 1967 war and which the Palestinians have designated as the land upon which a state will be declared. The U.S. predicates its stance on the Road Map peace plan, which explicitly calls for an absolute halt in construction. But when then-prime minister Ariel Sharon accepted the Road Map, he added 14 caveats, including the right to build in those communities in order to accommodate the natural growth of its residents. Those caveats, however, are not recognized by the U.S.
The issue is crucial to President Obama’s prestige in the Arab world, which is judging him in part on his ability to “deliver” Netanyahu on the issue. The Israelis insist that there was a tacit understanding with the Bush administration that accepts the natural growth exception, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said recently that records from that time were scrutinized and no such understanding was found. That position was refuted by Elliot Abrams, a senior member of the Bush administration with responsibility for the Middle East in the NSA, who confirmed that there was, indeed, such an agreement. On Tuesday, Barak will offer a plan that includes a temporary three-month freeze on construction to defuse the conflict between allies. But the plan has already drawn strong opposition by members of Netanyahu’s cabinet who argue that a temporary freeze might never defrost. [Michael Friedson, Executive Editor, TML]