White House chief demands end to 50 years of Israeli occupation
Doina Chiacu, March 24, 2015 - 3:31PM, Source
At odds: US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in September 2010. <cite>Photo: Reuters</cite>
Washington: The United States expects the next Israeli government to end nearly 50 years of occupation and clear the way for a Palestinian state, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough told Jewish Americans on Monday.
To cheers from the liberal Jewish group J Street, Mr McDonough vowed to safeguard Israel and criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's abandonment of a Palestinian state in the run-up to his re-election on March 17.
Mr Netanyahu is working to form Israel's next coalition government. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin announced on Monday that Mr Netanyahu had secured the backing of 67 of the 120 MPs elected last week and officially designated him to form the next government. Likud received the backing of the far-right, pro-settler Jewish Home party, the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party and the centrist Kulanu, along with ultra-Orthodox parties.
Ballots are counted at Israel's central elections committee building in the Knesset on March 18. Mr Netanyahu has gained enough cross-party support to form a governing coalition.<cite>Photo: Reuters</cite>
Mr Netanyahu has 28 days to form a coalition. He can ask Mr Rivlin for a 14-day extension, but his aides said he aimed to announce his government before Israel's Independence Day on April 23.
One of US President Barack Obama's closest advisers, Mr McDonough said a separate Palestinian state is the best guarantee of Israel's long-term security. "An occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end, and the Palestinian people must have the right to live in, and govern themselves in, their own sovereign state," he said.
Palestinians seek a state in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at a joint session of US Congress on March 3.<cite>Photo: Bloomberg</cite>
"In the end, we know what a peace agreement should look like. The borders of Israel and an independent Palestine should be based on the [June 4] 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps," Mr McDonough said.
Since his re-election, Mr Netanyahu has tried to row back on his election eve remarks dismissing a two-state solution, long a cornerstone of US peacemaking efforts. But Mr McDonough said Washington remained troubled. "We cannot simply pretend that these comments were never made," he said.
Separately, US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters the administration was unsure where the Israeli leader stood. Mr Netanyahu has said "diametrically opposing things, so which is his actual policy?" Ms Harf told reporters. "I think we just don't know what to believe at this point."
An elderly Palestinian in the Shujaiya district of Gaza City walks past a building destroyed during the conflict between Israel and Hamas in July and August of 2014.<cite>Photo: AP</cite>
J Street sharply criticised Mr Netanyahu's reversal on Palestinian statehood along with pre-election remarks accusing leftists from abroad of working to turn out voters from Israel's Arab minority to unseat him.
Mr Netanyahu apologised to Arab Israelis on Monday for those comments, which his critics denounced as racist and which drew expressions of concern from the White House.
"I know that my comments last week offended some Israeli citizens and offended members of the Israeli Arab community," Mr Netanyahu said, according to a translation provided by his party, Likud. "This was never my intent. I apologise for this."
Meanwhile, the European Union has joined Palestinian and Arab delegations on Monday in calling on Israel to allow a UN human rights investigator to visit Gaza, while the United States and Israel snubbed the debate.
Israel has not cooperated with special rapporteur Makarim Wibisono, who presented his first report to the Human Rights Council based on interviews with people in Amman and Cairo, or witnesses on video calls in Gaza.
It was the first time in two years that the EU has spoken during the debate dedicated to Israel, known as item 7, in which the United States has refused to participate since March 2013.