White House To Work With Israel “Quietly” on Settlements

Aaron Keyak — June 5, 2009 – 11:03 am | Foreign Policy | Israel | Obama Comments (0) Add a comment

In an email to a prominent Jewish leader, a White House official wrote, “The White House wants to work through its differences with Israel over settlements ‘quietly, professionally, and without rancor or ultimatums.’” The White House email was leaked to Politico and can be read here.

Here are some excerpts of the email from JTA:

While we may have some differences of view with Israel at the moment over settlements, we are trying to work through them quietly, professionally, and without rancor or ultimatums, as befits a strong relationship with an important ally,” the e-mail said. “We are confident we can do that.”

The e-mail states that President Obama “does believe Israel has an obligation to stop settlements—that is clearly what Israel agreed to in the road map.”

It adds that the president “also believes (and said when he met with President Abbas) that the Palestinians have obligations to end incitement and continue improving their security capabilities to confront terrorism.”

“He also has talked about the Arab states’ responsibilities to make serious gestures of normalization under the Arab peace initiative now, not at the end of the process,” according to the e-mail.

Click here to read the entire JTA piece.

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