More Seeds of Discord: No Sign of US-Israel Tension Easing

As tensions run high between Washington and Riyadh amid Obama’s meeting with the leaders of the Gulf countries, experts note that Saudi Arabia is not the only state with which the US is currently ill at ease – Israel is another Middle Eastern country where tension plagues bi-lateral relations and probably won't subside before Obama's term ends.

With nine months left in office, President Obama apparently must again seek to reassure his Middle Eastern allies, who remain upset over American policies in the region.

Apart from tense relationship with Saudi Arabia over Iran, the fight against terrorism and the potential release of long-delayed documents said to implicate Saudi officials in the 9/11 attacks, there is another Middle Eastern country where less-than-cordial attitudes are likely to persist through the end of President Obama's term.

“Although in the aftermath of the bitter political battle over the Iranian nuclear deal many expressed hope that hatchets would be buried and the remainder of the Obama term would show a marked improvement in the US-Israel relationship, it continues to be apparent that this will not be the case,” notes one US-based news agency specializing in coverage of the Middle East, The Media Line.

The outlet refers to the recent vow of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that the Golan Heights, which Israel captured the 1967 Six Day War from Syria and unilaterally annexed in 1981, “will forever remain part of Israel.”

The announcement came on Sunday, when the country's cabinet met for the first time in the disputed region.

Israel is concerned about a draft peace deal circulating in Geneva that includes a clause calling for it to return the Golan Heights to Syria.
Netanyahu then said he told US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday that Israel does not oppose current efforts to reach a political agreement to end the Syrian civil war, but that Israel’s boundary line with the country will not change.

“I convened this celebratory meeting in the Golan Heights to send a clear message: The Golan will always remain in Israel’s hands. Israel will never withdraw from the Golan Heights,” Israeli Prime Minister declared.

“The response from the US was immediate and unequivocal,” says The Media Line.

State Department spokesman John Kirby, referring to the Golan Heights and the other territories seized by Israel in ’67, said that, “Those territories are not part of Israel and the status of those territories should be determined through negotiations. The current situation in Syria does not allow this.”

This position was maintained by both Democratic and Republican administrations.

US Vice President Joe Biden was also unusually direct and personal in criticizing the Israeli policies.

“I firmly believe that the actions that Israel’s government has taken over the past several years — the steady and systematic expansion of settlements, the legalization of outposts, land seizures — they’re moving us and more importantly they’re moving Israel in the wrong direction,” the vice president told the pro-Israel, pro-peace advocacy group J Street on Monday.

The US position was supported by Germany.

“It’s a basic principle of international law and the UN charter that no state can claim the right to annex another state’s territory just like that,” Martin Schaefer, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry, said on Monday.

In Brussels, the European Union’s foreign affairs and security chief Federica Mogherini also emphasized that “the EU recognizes Israel within its pre-1967 boundaries, regardless of the (Israeli) government’s claims on other areas, until a final settlement is reached. This is a shared position reaffirmed by the European Union and its member states.”

The Arab League announced it will convene an emergency summit in Cairo over the Israeli Prime Minister’s statement.

It remains to be seen what will be the final outcome of all the statements.