Conciliatory language invoked by American and Israeli officials speaking to a pro-Israel conference in Washington did little to abate the tension between the two nations. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton summoned the traditional language of solidarity between the two historic allies before making it clear that the Netanyahu administration is expected to play by White House rules. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu made an unequivocal statement of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, reiterating that it will remain the Israeli capital in any final agreement with the Palestinians and rejecting the notion that Jewish building there is an obstacle to peace. Speaking as much to the Obama administration as to his audience, Netanyahu pointedly recalled that his Jerusalem policies are no different than those of each of his predecessors, citing Golda Meir, Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Rabin by name. Calling his decision to impose a temporary moratorium on building in post-1967 territories “unprecedented,” Netanyahu used the same word to describe his decision that Clinton herself had used in praising it at the time. The SecState told attendees that, “This is about getting to the table . . . and staying there until the job is finally done," but failed to convince many supporters of Israel who accused Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud ‘Abbas of being the party that has refused to come to the table without preconditions but has escaped the wrath Washington has unleashed on Netanyahu. Palestinian supporters counter that it’s Netanyahu’s policies that have prevented ‘Abbas from returning to the table.
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