Former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk spoke with Israel Radio’s Yoram Dekel on Wednesday (21 Elul), stating that Israel should be showing gratitude to the White House for its position on the PA (Palestinian Authority) statehood matter in the United Nations. Following are excerpts from the interview in which the ambassador spoke in English.

INDYK

President Obama has already made it clear that he will veto. I think what the government of Israel should do is find a way to express appreciation to President Obama.

IR (Israel Radio)

How can Israel do that?

INDYK

It must support what the United States has been saying. The best way to get this out of the United Nations and unilateral actions is to get back to negotiations. Terms of reference for negotiations I think will include – I think will have to include what the president said in his speech which was that the basis for the borders of Palestinian state and the Israeli state should be the line of June 1967, with land exchanges and this is something that the government of Israel is not willing to accept.

It would be a very useful thing the government of Israel can do to help the United States get out of the fix.

IR

Are you aware of the political position Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu finds himself in as well as his coalition realities, that may not permit the government to give in on the pre-1967 border demands.

INDYK

What I can say is that the prime minister wields immense authority and if he uses that authority he will find the public will be with him and in fact it will have a powerful influence on coalition members.

IR

Indyk was recently in Turkey and I want to ask his opinion regarding the situation between the two countries.

INDYK

Israel is not a victim here. Israel is capable of action. Israel is capable of changing the calculation of other leaders. Israel is capable of testing propositions rather than taking the position of a chacham who knows what the future would be. We don’t know. We cannot be factual regarding what one would have done if Israel would be prepared to go along with the carefully negotiated solution put forth.

I think it is reasonable to say that Israel could have tested the proposition and if Israel had apologized for the killing of nine Turkish civilians which the UN inquiry had said Israel’s blockade is legal, the same report also said Israel’s use of force was excessive and unreasonable. Israel could have apologized and offered to pay compensation. What is the big deal with that I don’t understand? END

Indyk is Vice President for Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. Indyk served as United States ambassador to Israel and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs during the Clinton Administration. He is known as the framer of the US policy of dual containment which sought to ‘contain’ Iraq and Iran, which were both viewed as Israel’s two most important strategic adversaries at the time.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)