White House says Israel-Palestine peace 'not in the cards' for Obama

WASHINGTON — In an unusually stark assessment, the White House said President Barack Obama has concluded that reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is “not in the cards” in the 14 months left of his presidency, top White House officials said Nov. 5. Given that assessment, and that there may not even be meaningful negotiations during that time, President Obama will be looking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring ideas to their meeting at the White House next week on steps that could be taken to preserve the two-state option for the future and to prevent the situation on the ground from further deteriorating, the officials said.

“We have to reach a realistic assessment, but there will not be a comprehensive final status agreement in the remainder of [Obama’s] term, and there likely may not even be meaningful negotiations between the two sides,” Robert Malley, the National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East, told journalists on a White House call Nov. 5.

“Given that reality, which is a new one, how does the prime minister [Netanyahu] himself see Israel going forward, given its own interests in stabilizing the situation, [and] in preventing the emergence of a one-state solution,” Malley continued. “What can be done in the absence of negotiations … to help stabilize the situation on the ground and to signal … that they are still committed to and moving toward a two-state solution even if they’re not in a position today to talk to one another about it.”

“We do not see a likelihood of achieving through the end of this administration … a negotiated two-state solution,” Benjamin Rhodes, the US deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, told journalists on the White House call. “Clearly, part of our assessment has been that we don't see a clear pathway right now to the type of negotiations that could produce a two-state solution, as much as we would like that to be the case.”