Obama-Netanyahu: Iran topples the Palestinian cause

What can be gleaned from President Barack Obama's comments regarding Iran,  is that the president still believes in giving diplomatic efforts a chance. Obama's stance comes at a time when Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu called on Washington to resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear programme in a military way. It would appear that  affection between Barack Obama and the Israeli prime minister is luke-warm at the most.  Their latest meeting at the White House is proof of that. It is clear that what "Bibi" needs is to have American approval in the scenario that Israel takes the decision to attack Iran in order to disrupt its nuclear programme. His words: "I will never let my people live under the threat of demise" indicate that. In fact, bonhommie between Obama and Bibi has been lacking  ever since the White House received  a black president and Netanyahu's corresponding return to the post of  Israeli prime minister.   Obama assured Arab officials whom he visited in the summer of 2008, prior to the presidential elections, that he would not leave the Palestinian cause on hold but would place it amongst the priorities of the United States once he became president. He told the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, during their meeting in Ramallah that he would not wait for the end of his second term in office to focus on the Palestinian cause. He also severely criticised his predecessor George W Bush who found no time to deal seriously with the Palestinian cause, save for the last months of his second and last term in office. Despite the many meetings which have taken place between Obama and Bibi, the US president has been unable to impose his agenda on the Israeli prime minister, particularly after realising that Netanyahu has several means through which he can exert pressure on Washington DC and the White House resident. However, Obama did not give up hope and managed to make Bibi accept the "two-state solution" without commitment to a clear reference towards peace, i.e. the pre 1967 borders which existed before the  six-day war took place in June of the same year.   The Israeli prime minister bought time in the knowledge that time would work in his favour and that through negotiations he would enable Israel to impose a new fait accompli in the territory on a daily basis… Year 2012 arrived, and the latest meeting between the two men comes ahead of the US presidential elections to be held this November. It was remarkable that in leaked reports and released statements to the public,  there was no mention of  Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict at all. The talks appeared to be  solely centred around the Iranian nuclear issue. So Iran toppled the Palestinian cause through its nuclear progamme on the one hand, and the statements delivered by its leaders, on the other hand. Is there a greater service that could be handed on a plate to Bibi than this? Few Arabs are aware of this fact and the extent of its danger. On top of this,  a long time ago was Jordan. It is no mere chance that Jordan's foreign minister, Nasser Judeh headed to Ramallah to meet with the Palestinian president to discuss the situation.  This visit came three days after the Obama-Netanyahu meeting in the White House when Jordan aimed to bring the Palestinians and Israelis to the negotiating table considering there was no other way to reach a settlement. What Jordan did is nothing new. The Kingdom has been working for years on achieving a just settlement based on resolutions of international legitimacy to establish a "viable" Palestinian state. It is of Jordanian and Arab interest  in general as expressed by King Abdullah II five years ago in his historic speech of March 7 2007 before the Congress. In this same historic speech, King Abdullah reminded Americans that the Palestinian issue remains "the core issue" and that the security of all nations and the stability of the global economy were directly related to the Middle East conflict. This Royal  speech was delivered during the era of President Bush. Many things have changed in the world and in Washington DC since then.  What has not changed is the hard line which the Arabs are committed to. Arabs are still working to preserve their priorities which doesn’t involve extremism,  whether Israeli, Arab or Iranian. No one disagrees that Iran's nuclear programme raises fear around the globe, especially if we take into consideration the policies pursued by Tehran which arouse the interests of sectarian strife in the region at the expense of all Arabs. There are those who seek to break this perpetuating cycle which regrettably, does not serve anyone but Israel and the expansionist policies of Netanyahu who seeks to prolong the occupation and displace the Palestinian people once more. Whether the Israeli prime minister triumphed over the US president or not, what is important is the survival of an Arab voice which calls a spade a spade.