Mr Obama’s swiftly scheduled speech at the US State Department in which he sought regain the initiative came just days after thousands of protestors marched on Israel’s northern borders bearing flags but also stones. The latter cast the spectre of another threatened intifada.
According to reports, hundreds of Syrian demonstrators tore down a border fence to cross into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights – a hugely significant breach – while in Lebanon 10 protestors were reportedly shot dead by Israeli troops as they pelted a border fence with stones. There were also demonstrations in Jordan and Egypt. The protests marked what Palestinians call the Nakba, or catastrophe, of the creation of the state of Israel which saw them evicted from their properties.
They were organised against a political backdrop that saw Fatah sign a unity agreement with Hamas which was immediately condemned by Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu as antithetical to any peace deal.
Mindful of the unforeseen political dissatisfaction that swept so rapidly from Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and on to Libya thus far the White House press secretary Jay Carney said the President wanted to offer “some specific new ideas about Amerian policy toward the region.”
US news media had suggested in advance that President Obama was weighing whether to formally endorse Israel’s pre-1967 borders as the starting point for negotiations over a Palestinian state — a signal that the US expects Israel to make concessions in pursuit of an agreement. But that alone fell short of the widely-desired US blueprint for breaking the stalemate and towards any long-term agreement.
At the same time the President’s remarks were interpreted as a coded warning to the violent crackdowns in Bahrain, Yemen and – in particular – to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad who has already been threatened with sanctions by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Washington’s perceived tentativeness to Syria is believed to be motivated by a wish not to push the country any closer to the Iranian regime.
Mr Obama was also due to meet Prime Minister Nettanyahu this weekend ahead of a speech to a major pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, and in advance of a speech by the Israeli head of government to a joint session of Congress.
