‘Last Obama peace push possibility was elephant in the room during Benjamin Netanyahu meeting’

NEW YORK – The possibility that US President Barack Obama may make a final push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative before he leaves office was the “elephant in the room” during his meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday, a senior official from the premier’s entourage told the press.

 

US officials have maintained for months that Obama has not yet made up his mind whether or not he will deliver a speech before he leaves office on January 20 on what he believes should be the parameters of a future peace deal. He is also apparently undecided on whether the US would support, or veto, a new UN Security Council resolution on the issue.

 

According to the official, who described the meeting as “positive”, the two leaders discussed the strategic defense and intelligence cooperation between the US and Israel.

The official added that the two nations are “synchronized” on “almost everything,” except for the issue of settlements as an obstacle to the two-state solution, which the official said was “nonsense.”

 

During their meeting in New York on the sidelines of the annual convening of the United Nations General Assembly, the two leaders also spent a considerable amount of time discussing the crisis in Syria.

 

Read More: ‘Last Obama peace push possibility was elephant in the room during Benjamin Netanyahu meeting’ – Israel News – Jerusalem Post