[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

If Congressman Robert Wexler considers a settlement freeze to be a "tiny,
tiny gesture and down payment" then we have to thank Congressman Wexker for
the head's up:

#1. Apparently even our friends in America won't appreciate the sacrifice.

#2.. If a settlement freeze is a "tiny. tiny gesture and down payment:" -
then a incredibly huge "final payment" is expected.]

Israel will say 'yes' to settlement freeze, Wexler tells 'Post'
Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST Jul. 1, 2009
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443695869&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

Israel would lose nothing, and potentially gain everything, by agreeing to a
temporary moratorium on construction in the settlements for a short period
of time, Congressman Robert Wexler, a close political ally of US President
Barack Obama and a stalwart Israel supporter, told The Jerusalem Post on
Wednesday.

Wexler, on his third visit to Israel since December, met with Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, a day after Defense Minister Ehud Barak and
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell met in New York and decided that the
discussion over settlement construction would continue.

"A request for a moratorium or freeze in settlement activity that can be
mutually agreed upon by the US and Israel in the next several weeks is a
tiny, tiny gesture and down payment to make when you look at potentially
what is on the other side of the equation," said Wexler.

On other side of the equation, he said, were 22 Arab countries being urged
by the US to take significant steps now towards normalization with Israel.

"I want to call their bluff," Wexler said. "I want to see, if Israel makes
substantial movement toward a credible peace process, whether they are
willing to do it. And if they are not, better that we should find out five
or six months into the process, before Israel is actually asked to
compromise any significant position."

Asked what would happen if Israel were to say no to the moratorium request,
Wexler said, "I don't think Israel will say no. I don't see an equation
where it is in Israel's interest to say no, so I believe Israel will say
yes, under a certain set of qualifications that Israel will agree to. This
is one hundred percent in Israel's national security interest."

Regarding the types of "qualifications," Wexler said that that was up to the
Israeli prime minister to decide.

"Any process of discussion requires compromise, particularly amongst friends
and allies if they are coming from different points," he said, adding that
every reasonable actor in the process understands that in a political
dynamic there must be give and take.

Wexler bewailed that while the US demands on Israel were highlighted in the
Israeli press, Washington's demands on the Arab world were not gaining
similar attention.

According to Wexler, the Obama administration was making "equal, if not
greater, demands on the Arab world in the context of starting the process
and negotiations."

Wexler said that the demands on the Arab world - Saudi Arabia, the Gulf
States and the North African Arab states - were quite substantial in terms
of steps of normalization. He said what was being discussed were trade
offices, direct economic links, cultural and educational exchanges and
over-fly rights for Israeli air carriers.

Moreover, he said the US was "open to suggestions from the Israeli side as
to all the different indicators of normalization that would be important for
Israel and that would create credibility among the Israeli public."

An Israeli settlement moratorium could go a long way toward moving that
normalization process ahead, he said.

When asked why the Arab world couldn't first show signs of a willingness to
normalize before Israel declares a moratorium, Wexler characterized such a
demand as "childish."

Wexler, a liberal Democratic congressman from South Florida who was the
first high-profile Jewish politician outside of Illinois to endorse Obama's
presidential candidacy in 2007, said Obama was asking Israel for a
moratorium on settlements, and a relaxing of conditions in the West Bank
consistent with Israel's security requirements, in exchange for the
Palestinians' adhering to their security conditions and responsibilities,
and the Arab world being given a set of responsibilities that has not been
given in the past.

"And if the Arab world fails to deliver," Wexler said, "you can rightly say
that all bets are off."

Wexler dismissed concerns that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
was waiting for Obama to "deliver" Israel while the PA made no conciliatory
steps, saying that if he did believe that, he was disabused of the notion by
Obama's positive response to Netanyahu's speech last month at Bar-Ilan
University.

"If in fact the Palestinians believed that the American posture was that
they didn't have to do anything, and the Americans would take care of this,
then I think they learned the hard way," he said.

Wexler was also dismissive of the notion that the US was pushing Israel hard
on the settlement issue as a way of bringing down the Netanyahu government.

"The president of the US does not have a view, or an opinion, or either a
tactical or strategic posture on the government of Israel," he said. "The
idea that the president, or anyone in any position of responsibility in
Washington, is designing a process to undermine the policy or position or
standing of the government of Israel is absurd."

Channel 1 reported last night that according to an Israeli source, Obama
would be announcing his Mideast peace plan within a month.

Netanyahu on Wednesday night called Israel's bond with the United States
"unbreakable."

"We have a brave relationship with the United States, a bond that President
Obama himself defined as unbreakable; Indeed, our bond with the US is
unbreakable," Netanyahu said, speaking at the US Independence Day reception
at the American ambassador's residence in Herzliya.

Netnayhu went on to praise the US, calling the country a model for freedom
and values.

In an allusion to the Iranian nuclear program, Netanyahu said freedom has
usually triumphed over repressive regimes, but warned that the world order
could break down if tyrannical regimes obtain weapons of mass destruction.

"The greatest danger facing our world today is that this historical
consistency of the triumph and spread of democracy could change if the
world's worst regimes acquire the world's most dangerous weapons," he said.

Netanyahu did not mention Iran, but he has often warned against allowing
Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. Iran has denied it is pursuing nuclear
weapons.

The prime minister went on to stress that the State of Israel and its
citizens deeply appreciate the US, noting that several of Jerusalem's
streets are named after former US presidents.

US Ambassador to Israel James Cunningham also mentioned the strong bond to
Israel, and said the US is committed to the security of Israel and to the
security of Israel's citizens.

Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report