Israeli PM: ‘Peace cannot be imposed’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday that a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians will be possible only when the Palestinian Authority accepts a Jewish state.

But he also warned his own countrymen that any lasting agreement would necessarily leave some Jewish settlements outside Israel’s borders — the first time an Israeli prime minister has offered such a concession publicly, according to several supportive lawmakers.

{mosads}“Our conflict has never been about the establishment of a Palestinian state, it’s always been about the existence of a Jewish state,” Netanyahu said in a speech at the conclusion of a five-day visit to Washington. “This is what this conflict is about.”

The speech was warmly received by lawmakers in both parties. Netanyahu received more standing ovations during the 45-minute address than President Obama did during this year’s State of the Union.

The rousing reception is a victory for Netanyahu and will be heard in the White House, in Israel and around the world as a clear show of congressional support for the Israeli prime minister.

One of the biggest applause lines came when Netanyahu rejected any peace talks premised on Israel’s 1967 borders, which were expanded during the Six Day War, when Israel conquered parts of the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Thousands of Israelis have since settled in the border regions.

“The precise delineation of those borders must be negotiated,” Netanyahu said, but “Israel will not return to the indefensible boundaries of 1967.” 

Lawmakers from both parties leapt to their feet in applause. 

The remarks marked Netanyahu’s third rebuke of Obama since Thursday, when the president proposed that the peace negotiations be based on the 1967 borders, along with “mutually agreed” land swaps. 

Netanyahu said those old boundaries would make it difficult to defend Israel from terrorist attacks — particularly in the densely populated areas around Jerusalem and Tel Aviv — and blamed the Palestinian Authority for its recent reconciliation with Hamas, which continues to call for the destruction of Israel.

“Under any realistic peace agreement, these areas — as well as other places of critical strategic and national importance — will be incorporated into the final borders of Israel,” he said.

A number of lawmakers have sided with Netanyahu over Obama on the border issue.

“The benefit of the doubt as it pertains to the lines should go to those who have to defend those lines,” said Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.). He charged Obama with “tilting toward Hamas” at the expense of Israel, and emphasized that Congress would never base its approach to Israeli aid on such a position.

“A majority of the Congress disagrees” with Obama on the ’67 lines, Andrews said.

Both Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.), the House Democratic whip, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have rejected Obama’s proposal in recent days, telling the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that preconditions have no place in the negotiations.

“No one should set premature parameters about borders, about building or about anything else,” Reid said Monday night.

After Netanyahu’s speech Tuesday, Hoyer downplayed the division between Obama and Israel’s allies in Congress, saying both sides have moved beyond the rift.

“I don’t think the president had any intention of changing policy,” Hoyer said. “He said it was subject to swaps — in other words, adjustments. That’s essentially what President [George W.] Bush said. I think we’re beyond that.”

Speeches by foreign leaders to both chambers of Congress are not always well-attended, but most senators and House members made time for Netanyahu’s address. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) had invited him to speak to the joint meeting.

Netanyahu opened his remarks by congratulating Obama for killing Osama bin Laden.

“You got bin Laden,” he said. “Good riddance!”

The statement drew the other long ovation for Netanyahu, with the applause led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). 

Laying out conditions for a peace deal, Netanyahu said Jerusalem must remain undivided and controlled by Israel; the Palestinian state must be fully demilitarized; the Palestinian Authority must reject Hamas; and the deal must be hashed out by the two sides, and not the United Nations or any other third party. 

“Peace cannot be imposed,” he said. “It must be negotiated.”

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said afterward that he was encouraged by Netanyahu’s willingness to concede some settlements for a peace deal.

{mosads}“He boldly stated that indeed Israel will have to, in any resolution, move away from some settlements,” Kerry said. “Now you’ve got to get talks going.”

Netanyahu issued a stiff warning about the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran, calling Iran “foremost” among the forces that are working against democracy in the Middle East.

“A nuclear-armed Iran would ignite a nuclear arms race in the Middle East,” he warned. “Those who dismiss it are sticking their heads in the sand.”

Netanyahu was interrupted a few minutes into his speech by a protester in the House galley. A woman jumped up and screamed, “End Israeli war crimes!” before being subdued by people around her and escorted out of the chamber by plainclothes security. She yelled, “Equal rights for Palestinians” as she was pulled out.

Netanyahu turned the interruption into another applause line.

“You know, I take it as a badge of honor, and so should you, that in our free societies you can have protests,” he said. “You can’t have these protests in the farcical parliaments of Tehran or Tripoli. This is real democracy.”

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said Netanyahu delivered “a terrific speech,” and noted it was the first time an Israeli prime minister has said out loud what pro-Israel activists have long presumed: that any peace deal must wrap a number of the territories occupied after 1967 into the larger Israel, but also cede some Israeli settlements to the Palestinians.

Other lawmakers were encouraged by the speech, but also skeptical of the prospects for a peace deal in the face of numerous political hurdles. Sen. Dick Lugar (Ind.), the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations panel, said the March resignation of the administration’s well-respected Middle East peace negotiator, George Mitchell, has deflated optimism that a deal is forthcoming. 

But Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) said that, after decades in search of a peace deal, she’s accustomed to the emotional tug-of-war.

“As a Jew, I’m always worried and optimistic at the same time,” Schwartz said. “It’s what we do.”

Russell Berman contributed.