Obama (Finally) Believes Netanyahu is Not Interested in a Palestinian State

We take him at his word when he said that it wouldn't happen' during his tenure, U.S. president tells Huffington Post

A French President (Nicolas Sarkozy) once told US President Obama, "I cannot bear
Netanyahu, he's a liar." (Illustration by Ronald David Jackson)

By Barak Ravid
U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview with Huffington Post on Saturday that he is convinced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

"We take him at his word when he said that it wouldn't happen during his prime ministership," the president said, referring to the prime minister's comments a few days before Israel's election on Tuesday, that a Palestinian state wouldn't be established on his watch.

Obama's comments in the interview suggest that he was not convinced by the recent days' clarifications proffered by Netanyahu in both interviews to American media and in a telephone conversation with the U.S. president on last Thursday.

In these interviews, Netanyahu said that he wanted a stable and sustainable two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians, but existing circumstances make that difficult. He never retracted his commitment from the Bar-Ilan speech, he said, adding that it is the realities that had changed. Obama said that in light of Netanyahu's stance, his administration would need to "evaluate what other options are available to make sure that we don't see a chaotic situation in the region.

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