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Last update - 08:27 25/09/2009
Rahm Emanuel: Obama summit was not just a photo opportunity
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel news, Obama 

Israeli and Palestinian leaders must move quickly to take advantage of this "unique moment" for making peace, following their meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this week, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said in an interview Thursday with Charlie Rose on American public television station PBS.

The three-way meeting between Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was not a photo op, Emanuel said.

"He [Obama] challenged them publicly, which means they now have to go home and face the people that they represent about the opportunities of peace versus the risk of not taking action."
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He added that he believes both parties desire peace.

According to Emanuel, whose father is Israeli, Obama told both parties: "First of all, I have a lot of other challenges. I don't have an inexhaustible amount of time, but I'm going to spend whatever time it takes to help. But not more than you're willing to take."

"I will spend political capital, as [I did] in the heart of the Arab world, in Cairo," Emanuel quoted the president as saying. "Talk about the right of the state of Israel to exist in that region, as a secure country. And America will always have that friendship, and it runs deep."

Obama "also said he is willing to challenge the Israeli government and friends when he thinks they're wrong, as he has shown on the settlement[s], in a public way as well as in private," Emanuel added. This, he said, ensures that both sides trust Obama "to be an honest broker; don't miss that opportunity in his story."

Obama, Emanuel said, believes Israeli settlements "can be provocative to a peace process, in a negative sense."

But even more importantly, he believes that both parties, Israeli and Palestinian, need to "put aside the negotiations about the negotiations and begin their negotiations," Emanuel told interviewer Charlie Rose. "And you can't start as if there hasn't been a process."

"If you don't make progress and engage in the process of making peace," he continued, "you give Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran, who are enemies of the peace process, and vocal opponents of it, a veto."

Referring to Netanyahu, Emanuel said Obama views the prime minister as a "practical person," adding that Netanyahu "has shown" this "in the past," at the Wye Plantation talks in 1998.

"He'll take risks," Emanuel said of the prime minister. And "the risk[s] for peace, in the president's view, are less than the risks of not making peace."

Both Israel and the Palestinians must "seize an opportunity," he continued, because they are faced with "a unique moment in time in the region - because you have a strong Israeli government with a strong prime minister, and a Palestinian Authority that is seen by the Palestinian people as the best opportunity to seek their aspirations."

The administration's message to Iran, he added, is that if, in fact, the Iranians show that they "want to be a part of the community of nations, we're prepared to engage" them on all bilateral issues, including those that have "to do with stopping enriching nuclear fuel." A nuclearized Iran, he said, "is a threat to the region."

He also argued that Iran has lost much of its clout: "It's now back on its heel[s] rather than being the kind of power" it was thought to be.

Regarding North Korea, Emanuel said, "there's a collective sense of action both by Russia and China with the United States and Japan and South Korea about what we have to do and the type of sanctions we have imposed." Pyongyang, he added, "has seen that collective action in unison."

At a meeting that Obama held with Jewish leaders in July, the president referred to Emanuel as his "advisor on settlements." Netanyahu's associates view Emanuel as a left-winger who incites against the settlements, while The New York Times has described him as the most influential White House chief of staff in decades.
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  1.   Rahm Emanuel: Israel, PA must seize opportunity for peace By Akiv 06:44  |  Sarah Lascar 25/09/09
  2.   Firm NO COMMENT on Israeli Actions 07:21  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/09/09
  3.   Right.. 07:33  |  Hersh 25/09/09
  4.   Obama: I don`t have a lot of time 07:53  |  Nora Israel 25/09/09
  5.   Rahm Emanuel 08:10  |  Ralph 25/09/09
  6.   peace with exactly whom 08:13  |  real vision 25/09/09
  7.   Yeah, right..... 08:18  |  Johnboy 25/09/09
  8.   OK, so when is Rahm going to deliver on the settlement issue...? 08:23  |  Esther 25/09/09
  9.   Only one core issue and only it must be addressed 09:16  |  Eitan 25/09/09
  10.   It is all about wanting. 09:26  |  flower 25/09/09
  11.   The Charlie Rose interview 09:42  |  Chappaqua neighbor 25/09/09
  12.   Why negotiate? 11:50  |  Erik 25/09/09
  13.   summit 12:04  |  colim 25/09/09
  14.   Jewish State 12:11  |  Erik 25/09/09
  15.   #9 Eitan and 181 borders 12:23  |  BDS 25/09/09
  16.   Obama must cut aid to Israel 12:28  |  Spider 25/09/09
  17.   Is this a quote? 12:37  |  Peter 25/09/09
  18.   #16 Spider - It`s just wishful thinking on your part 12:55  |  *BEN JABO 25/09/09
  19.   erik 12:59  |  Yaron 25/09/09
  20.   Esther 13:00  |  sh 25/09/09
  21.   #14 Erik - Israel is a Jewish State 13:01  |  *BEN JABO 25/09/09
  22.   Nora Israel 13:06  |  flora 25/09/09
  23.   Obama is avoiding the Biggest Challange of them all... 13:31  |  Mark 25/09/09
  24.   So, the ballet dancer turned tough guy speaks 13:46  |  Fred Dreyfuss 25/09/09
  25.   Eitan # 9 Coere issue? 13:54  |  American in NY 25/09/09
  26.   May G-D and His WORD BLESS BIBI 13:55  |  Bill 25/09/09
  27.   Does Israel want to rule over a majority of non israelis? 14:09  |  richelle 25/09/09
  28.   Rahm Emanuel 14:16  |  Oskar Prager 25/09/09
  29.   Rahm Emanuel 14:21  |  David Weinstock 25/09/09
  30.   #15 BDS - Since the Arabs refused those borders 14:32  |  *BEN JABO 25/09/09
  31.   It is very clear 14:38  |  WHG 25/09/09
  32.   Spider Oslo fine cut all aid to Pals. 14:57  |  petra 25/09/09
  33.   Obama is wrong, Everything he touched is a failure 15:53  |  Kipperraes 25/09/09
  34.   Enough Is Enough! 15:54  |  Yaakov Sullivan 25/09/09
  35.   Is this pure fiction? 16:02  |  Mikael 25/09/09
  36.   Obama 16:08  |  Sophie 25/09/09
  37.   Only justice will bring peace 16:10  |  Esther 25/09/09
  38.   Of course it was a photo op even Obama knew thats all it was 16:50  |  zionist forever 25/09/09
  39.   Empty suits with no depth 17:25  |  bernard ross 25/09/09
  40.   #16 Spider - Wishful thinking on your part 17:35  |  *BEN JABO 25/09/09
  41.   Forsake Zealotry and Ideology for Common Sense 17:51  |  Vladek 25/09/09
  42.   Throwing in the towel 18:06  |  Ed 25/09/09
  43.   Clear indication that neither Emanuel nor Obama understand the si 18:12  |  David 25/09/09
  44.   Okay Esther@8 When are You Going to vacate?? 18:45  |  Whiskey/Bravo 25/09/09
  45.   "an alien transmission" 20:28  |  Sandman 25/09/09
  46.   Enough is enough 20:51  |  solomon 25/09/09
  47.   #34 Yaakov Sullivan 21:45  |  D.Litner 25/09/09
  48.   #37 Esther 21:53  |  D.Litner 25/09/09
  49.   #42 Obama throws in the towel 22:00  |  D.Litner 25/09/09
  50.   Cut aid to Israel and end blockade of Gaza 22:09  |  james 25/09/09
  51.   #30 BEN JABO 22:25  |  BDS 25/09/09
  52.   #49 james 22:30  |  BDS 25/09/09
  53.   D. Litner you have a very short memory 22:36  |  Janice 25/09/09
  54.   49 Get Serious James 22:37  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/09/09
  55.   49 Get Serious James 22:38  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/09/09
  56.   49 Get Serious James 22:38  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/09/09
  57.   D. Litner on the Zionist Largess 22:40  |  Yaakov Sullivan 25/09/09
  58.   Bibi, Beware! 00:08  |  Keola Weimer 26/09/09
  59.   Janice 52 00:14  |  norman a blumberg 26/09/09
  60.   Erik 14 00:25  |  norman a blumberg 26/09/09
  61.   Enough Is Enough! 00:35  |  Yaakov Sullivan 26/09/09
  62.   TIME FOR A 2-STATE SOLUTION 00:39  |  NOT-haaretz.com 26/09/09
  63.   Rahm on Charlie Rose 06:49  |  Denise 26/09/09
  64.   Loyal servant and Mastr 06:56  |  mike 26/09/09
  65.   To grovel or to fight To Ed 07:51  |  EW 26/09/09
  66.   PHOTO 11:32  |  second time 26/09/09
  67.   "Running deep" in a one-way direction 19:45  |  David 26/09/09
  68.   Round one : one for "Bibi" - alas ! 19:56  |  Hugely disappointed 26/09/09
  69.   Folds Like Cards? 00:19  |  Stephen 27/09/09
  70.   photo op 07:33  |  fred 27/09/09
  71.   Good for you Bibi 09:35  |  Elisabeth 28/09/09
  72.   to *BEN JABO #21 11:29  |  zeev 03/10/09
  73.   to *BEN JABO #21 22:18  |  zeev 03/10/09
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