Azerbaijan, Baku, April 8 /Trend News, corr. U.Sadikova /
In spite of support of the USA in establishing independent Palestinian state, it is necessary to weaken the influence of Iran in the Middle East and to remove split in Palestine in order to attain peace in the Middle East region, experts say.
Being on a visit to Turkey, Barack Obama stated that the peace in the Middle East is possible only with the co-existence of two states - Israeli and Palestinian - and called upon both sides to make mutual concession, Turkish TRT 2 television channel reported.
The U.S. Administration requires Israel to contribute to the establishment of Palestinian state, stop building Jewish settlements on the West Bank and remove all checkpoints between Israel and Palestinian territory.
However, last week the Foreign Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman refused fulfilling international obligations, signed during the peaceful conference in Annapolis in the end of 2007.
Establishing an independent Palestinian state was the key principle of conference.
The Foreign Minister of Israel in the new government to Benjamin Netanyahu, Avigdor Lieberman, warned other states against the interference in the internal and external affairs of Israel, AFP agency reported.
However, the Administration of Obama considers that the peace process will be ended only after the Prime Minister of Israel Netanyahu's refusal from the negotiations with the Palestinians, Jerusalem Post newspaper reported on April 8 with reference to the American diplomatic sources.
Netanyahu supports continuation of peace process with the Palestinians on the principles, devised by the government of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The obstacle for peace process can be the position of the government of Israel and support of Iran to Palestinian Hamas Movement.
Iran provides material and military support to Hamas, since the Movement resists the Israeli occupation of West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Iran's financial support for Hamas and refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist undermines the peace process, Eytan Gilboa, political scientist of Israeli Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, said.
"Iran has a great role in making stability in the peace, and Obama has to firstly resolve the problem in relations with Iran," Gilboa, a former consultant to the Israeli Prime Minister Office and the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, told Trend News in a telephone conversation.
For a period of five years, Iran has been developing a nuclear program and dealing with uranium enrichment, against which the USA and the European Union protest.
Obama agreed to begin a dialogue with Teheran despite that the former U.S. President George Bush rejected any contacts with the Iranian leadership.
If Obama insists on peace without solution of the problem of Iranian influence, then this will not be successful, said Gilboa.
The problem in the progress of peace process is caused by the split between the Palestinian movements Hamas and Fatah
As a result of armed confrontations in the Gaza Strip between the supporters of Hamas and members of ruling Fatah Party, Hamas gained control on Gaza.
In the beginning of March, Fatah and Hamas agreed to re-establish dialogue, which must be completed with creation of national Palestinian State.
"Weak leadership in the Palestinian Authority and serious divisions between the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza also prevents solution of the conflict," Stephen Biddle, Senior Fellow for Defense Policy at the American Council on Foreign Relations, said.
"The underlying conditions are just not ripe for resolution right now, Biddle told Trend News via e-mail. Newly-elected Israeli government hardly seems inclined to offer concessions in negotiation".
It is still important for the United States to try to facilitate progress, he said.
The U.S. Administration must use economic and political pressure on Israel and on the Palestinians in order to advance peace process, observers consider.
"The main potential of US levers are political and economic. The Obama Administration can voice support for, or condemnation of, either side in the negotiation at particular points in the process, and this support or condemnation can convey political costs or benefits to those parties to encourage them to move toward mutual compromise," Biddle said.
However, ?halil Al Anani, analyst on Middle policy, considers that Obama must also re-consider influence of Jewish lobby in the USA.
"Obama must decide whether he wants to weaken relations with the Jewish lobby," Al Anani, a senior fellow at Egyptian Al-Ahram Foundation, told Trend News in a telephone conversation from Cairo.
The Jewish lobby in the USA, presented by American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), constantly contributes to strengthening political and military relations between the USA and Israel.
In principle the US could also offer military incentives by manipulating US weapon sales and military aid to Israel to create incentives for compromise, Biddle said.
However, in order to change conditions for the negotiations, the future Palestinian state, of which part will be the members of Hamas, must come to unanimous opinion in peace with Israel.
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