Israeli anxiety increases over new U.S. policies

McClatchy Newspapers

JERUSALEM — Sirens blared across Israel on Tuesday as the nation carried out its biggest-ever “doomsday” drill meant to simulate a catastrophic attack.

The faux fears, however, were overshadowed by deepening anxiety in Jerusalem that Israel is heading for an unavoidable political showdown with President Barack Obama over the center-right government’s refusal to stop building Jewish homes in the predominantly Palestinian West Bank.

Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s largest daily newspaper, carried a front-page story Tuesday bluntly titled: “The American Threat.”

Its biggest competitor, Maariv, carried a bold headline: “Pressure.”

The building apprehension comes as Obama is preparing to make a direct appeal to the Islamic world in Cairo on Thursday that’s widely seen as a chance for the U.S. to launch a new, more-cooperative era with Arab nations in the Middle East.

Central to the success of Obama’s attempts to reshape America’s image in the region will be a shift in U.S. policy toward Israel.

And for many, the heart of that discussion is Israel’s refusal to stop building Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Under the six-year-old Road Map for Middle East Peace, drafted by the Bush administration, Israel is supposed to stop all settlement construction in the West Bank, including development in major settlements that Israel expects to retain in any peace deal.

Israeli leaders accepted the plan but imposed their own interpretation of the proposal and argued that they had the right to continue building in existing settlements.

The Bush administration never seriously challenged Israel on this point. Obama, however, has stated plainly that Israel must honor its commitment to stop all settlement construction. Period.

“It is important for us to be clear about what we believe will lead to peace and that there’s not equivocation and there’s not a sense that we expect only compromise on one side,” Obama told National Public Radio on Monday. “It’s going to have to be two-sided.”

That stand has set off alarms in Jerusalem, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that Obama’s call for Israel to accept the Road Map conditions was “unrealistic.”