Nation/World

Obama prods Netanyahu after signing of $38B U.S.-Israel aid deal

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Wednesday renewed his call for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and argued that it was crucial to Israel's security, using the completion of a new agreement to provide $38 billion in U.S. military aid as an occasion to prod Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a long-running dispute.

Obama said the 10-year, $38 billion agreement — the most generous of its kind ever — would "make a significant contribution to Israel's security in what remains a dangerous neighborhood." In a statement after the deal was signed in a formal ceremony at the State Department, the president said it underscored the United States' status as "Israel's greatest friend and partner."

But in a nod to his differences with Netanyahu, with whom he has clashed over the Iran nuclear deal and Israeli settlement activity, Obama also stressed the importance of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an imperative he said was as vital to Israel's security as the aid package itself.

"It is because of this same commitment to Israel and its long-term security that we will also continue to press for a two-state solution to the longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict, despite the deeply troubling trends on the ground that undermine this goal," Obama said. "As I have emphasized previously, the only way for Israel to endure and thrive as a Jewish and democratic state is through the realization of an independent and viable Palestine."

The strongly worded statement raised anew the possibility, the subject of a long-running debate at the White House, that Obama might make an effort after the November election to lay out terms of a possible peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, perhaps through introducing a resolution at the United Nations Security Council.

During the nine months of intense negotiations that led to the conclusion of the military aid agreement, Netanyahu's aides were concerned that completing the deal might embolden Obama to go ahead with such a move, which the prime minister strongly opposes.

In an interview Wednesday, Susan E. Rice, Obama's national security adviser, who led the talks on the aid agreement, said the negotiations had been "completely unrelated" to the debate over whether the president should weigh in on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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"We don't have any plans to do anything particularly dramatic at this point," she said. "We continue to want to see a two-state solution remain a live option. It's vitally important."

She said the prolonged negotiations over the military aid package had been a product of separate disagreements over how much funding Israel needed and how the money should be used.

"The numbers they were seeking were far above our assessment of their requirement," Rice said. "A country's wish list can be infinite; a country's no-kidding needs is a different question, and that's what we were trying to address, and fully addressed it — plus some."

To some close observers, however, Obama's statement indicated that the question of military aid could not be separated from the other issues that have divided him and Netanyahu.

Aaron David Miller, a Middle East scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said it was "indicative of an administration mindset that needs to justify assistance to Israel, and reflects the strong possibility that sometime by year's end, President Obama will put out some sort of virtual peace process plan."

Others question whether Obama would want to exert the kind of political and diplomatic capital it would take to press the issue before he leaves office.

"The question for the president is, is this where he wants to put a whole lot of his chips during the last few months," said Ilan Goldenberg, the director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.

With the military aid deal now sealed, Goldenberg added, "It certainly means that if he does go for it, he has a strong political argument to say, 'Look, I've been as supportive of Israel as anyone.'"

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