No Israeli leader can "swim against stream"

Source: Xinhua | 05-10-2009 08:43

CAIRO, May 9 (Xinhua) -- No Israeli prime minister can swim against the main stream, and the incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu, who is scheduled to visit Egypt Monday, will have to accept the two-state solution in the end, said former Egyptian Ambassador to Israel Mohammed Bassyoni.

In an interview with Xinhua on Saturday, Bassyoni said he expected the United States to impose strong pressure on Israel to let the latter accept a Palestinian statehood.

"(U.S. President) Barack Obama suggests and supports the two-state solution," he said. "First, Obama will try to persuade Netanyahu to abide by the two-state solution; if it fails, he will start to impose pressure on him."

During a visit to Turkey in early April, which aimed at rebuilding the strained ties with the Muslim world, Obama stressed that his administration is determined to help reach a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Israel and a Palestinian state coexisting in peace and security.

But the overture fell on deaf ears of the right-leaning Israeli government. Obama's special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell, who has toured the region in mid-April and collected unanimous endorsement from the Arabs, got little lip service from Netanyahu to the two-state guideline and an vague "new approaches" from the hardline Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Netanyahu, who spoke from Israel via satellite to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual conference in Washington, said on Monday night that "We are prepared to resume peace negotiations without any delay, without any preconditions. The sooner, the better."