US President Barack Obama. Photo: AJN file

WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama has nominated an ambassador to Syria.

The nomination of Robert Stephen Ford, currently the deputy ambassador to Iraq, comes on the eve of a visit to Damascus by William Burns, an undersecretary of state and the most senior Obama administration official to visit Syria.

President George W Bush withdrew the US ambassador to Syria in early 2005, after Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister and democratic reformer, was assassinated. Syria was widely blamed for the murder.

Until this week’s nomination, Obama had extended the Bush administration sanctions and snubs aimed at getting Syria to stop meddling in Lebanon and Iraq, to end its backing for anti-Israel terrors groups and to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.

Just last week, the White House denied that it had “formally” nominated an ambassador.
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US President Barack Obama Photo: AJN file

NAOMI LEVIN

WHEN the United States presidential visit was announced last week, state premiers practically fell over themselves trying to tout the benefits of their region and listing the reasons why the Obamas should pay them a visit.

But with a Jewish chief of staff whispering in his ear, peace in the Middle East high on his to-do list and a rabbi on his wife’s side of the family, could Barack be considering a meeting with Australia’s Jewish community?

When The AJN put the question to the most influential of community leaders though, they kept mum.

There was no speculation or gushing over whether Obama might stand at the lectern at the Beth Weizmann Community Centre or tour Moriah College. Instead, there was a hushed silence, almost as if any hint of such a thing would jinx any possible meeting.

A couple of community leaders did weigh into the debate though, musing on what they might say to the leader of the free world if the opportunity arose.
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US President Barack Obama. Photo: AJN file

AHRON SHAPIRO

WHEN the US President told Time magazine in an interview last month that he had erred during his first year in office by raising “too high” expectations of an Israeli-Palestinian peace breakthrough, it was more than an admission that his strategies to date had not been working.

It signalled a re-assessment of expectations for the coming year as well – of what could be realistically achieved and how much time he would devote to it.

Scratching beneath the surface, Barack Obama’s statement reflected a predictable reshuffling of priorities in his Administration that had as much to do with new political realities at home as it did with diplomatic frustrations in Jerusalem and Ramallah.

A successful president needs a supportive Congress to advance his agenda, and Obama is in danger of losing the confidence of his.
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Israeli President Shimon Peres. Photo: AJN file

JERUSALEM — Israeli President Shimon Peres and US President Barack Obama have discussed the Middle East on the sidelines of the climate change conference in Copenhagen.

Peres’ office said in a news release that Obama approached the Israeli leader late Friday afternoon (December 18) at the UN Climate Change Conference and embraced him warmly, then talked about the Middle East situation.

“Israel appreciates and respects your significant efforts to renew the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as that between Israel and its Arab neighbors,” Peres told the US president, according to the release.

“I ask that you continue in your work to advance peace in the Middle East.”

Peres met several leaders during the conference including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
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JERUSALEM - There is ‘Israeli consensus’ that the southeastern Jerusalem Jewish neighborhood of Gilo belongs to Israel, opposition leader Tzipi Livni said on Wednesday, taking issue with a harsh condemnation from US President Barack Obama over the Jerusalem municipality’s plans to build 900 apartments there.
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US President Barack Obama. Photo: AJN file

WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama said additional Israeli settlement building “embitters the Palestinians in a way that could end up being very dangerous”.

In an interview with Fox News in China on November 18, Obama said Israel’s decision to approve the construction of 900 new apartments on the outskirts of the southeastern Jerusalem neighbourhood of Gilo was not helpful to peace talks.

“The situation in the Middle East is very difficult, and I’ve said repeatedly and I’ll say again, Israel’s security is a vital national interest to the United States, and we will make sure they are secure,” Obama said.

“I think that additional settlement building does not contribute to Israel’s security. I think it makes it harder for them to make peace with their neighbours. I think it embitters the Palestinians in a way that could end up being very dangerous.”
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US President Barack Obama with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the White House in May 2009. Photo: AJN file

WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu have met behind closed doors, discussing US-Israel ties, Iran and Mid-East peace talks, according to a White House statement.

The meeting at the White House in the evening of November 9 was closed to reporters, even omitting the standard photo opportunity and handshake.

The White House statement following the meeting was unusually terse, stating: “The President and Prime Minister Netanyahu discussed a number of issues in the US-Israel bilateral relationship. The President reaffirmed our strong commitment to Israel’s security, and discussed security cooperation on a range of issues. The President and Prime Minister also discussed Iran and how to move forward on Middle East peace.”

White House officials have expressed frustration with the impasse in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
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HAVIV RETTIG GUR

THE past decade has been a difficult one for Middle East optimists. From the jaws of victory in 2000, the Palestinians somehow snatched defeat.

In response to massive Israeli withdrawals, to the total absence of Israeli soldiers from Palestinian towns, and to an Israeli offer to share sovereignty over the Temple Mount, the autocratic Palestinian government of Yasser Arafat in October 2000 launched the bloodiest terror campaign endured by any democracy in recent decades.
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Elliot Abrams

You worked closely with former US president George W Bush, was the image created by the media anything like the real man?

The media took a dislike to Bush early on. The image of him was very unlike him. The person I know was highly intelligent – he graduated from Yale and Harvard business schools – and who was a voracious reader, constantly reading history books. So he was really quite a different guy.

Why do you think the media’s portrayal of Bush then was so different to the real man?
Most of the major TV and newspapers here are pretty left-of-centre and they just didn’t like him.

Do you think that is the reason current US President Barack Obama has enjoyed such a clear run in the press?
Yes, although it has turned around a little bit. During the 2008 campaign, the media was quite amazingly biased.

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YITZHAK BENHORIN

WASHINGTON - The White House urged Israel and the Palestinians on Thursday to do more to open the way to renewed peace negotiations as President Barack Obama received a report on the status of US peacemaking efforts.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with President Obama earlier in the day and presented him with her report on the progress in the efforts to resume negotiations in the Middle East, which according to her was scant.
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