Crowd pleaser

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clearly enjoyed the warm reception he received in the US Congress, where his 45-minute speech on the Mideast peace process was continually interrupted by applause and cheers from America's elected officials.

In a press conference after Netanyahu's address, Republican leaders confirmed Washington's long-standing alliance with the Jewish state.

"Today we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel and once again renew our historic partnership," House Speaker John Boehner said.

"The work of achieving a safe and secure Israel has never been easy, but the cause is right. So we look forward to continuing to work together for peace, freedom and stability in the region."

In an era of partisan polarization among the political class in Washington, support for Israel is one of the few policy issues that can bring the two parties together.

Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi echoed the Republicans' reaffirmation of US-Israeli relations, telling Netanyahu that his position enjoyed broad support across the American political spectrum.

"Both sides of the aisle, both sides of the capital believe you advanced the cause of peace with your great speech to Congress," Pelosi said.

Crowd pleaser

However, Aaron David Miller - who has advised six US Secretaries of State and led peace negotiations in the Mideast - does not believe Netanyahu's address impacted the stalled peace negotiations with the Palestinians in any way.

Miller says that Netanyahu's speech was not written to galvanize negotiations. Instead, his address was a crowd pleaser given to an overwhelmingly pro-Israel political establishment.

"This was a speech by a politician designed to make a very powerful and very effective statement," Miller told Deutsche Welle.

The great divide

In his speech, Netanyahu emphasized common Israeli-American values and presented Israel as a bastion of democracy in the Middle East.

He did indeed declare himself ready to make "painful compromises," but also repeated his fundamental position that Israel will not accept a return to its pre-1967 borders or the return of Palestinian refugees to its territories.

Furthermore, Jerusalem must remain the undivided capital of the Jewish state and Israel will not negotiate with a Palestinian government that includes the Islamist Hamas.

The Palestinians rejected outright the conditions that Netanyahu laid out in his address to the US Congress.

"For us, the borders of the Palestinian state should be the lines of 1967 and East Jerusalem as its capital and we will not accept any Israeli presence inside the Palestinian state, particularly on the River Jordan," said Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas.

Palestinian initiative

Miller does not believe that Netanyahu's speech has jeopardized the peace process in any way, simply by virtue of the fact that there is currently no peace process to speak of.

"There's very little that can be done right now because to change the calculations of anybody - Obama, Netanyahu or Abbas - you need something profoundly positive on the one hand or a crisis on the other," Miller said.

"I don't see any of those looming in the short term."

The Palestinians are the only ones who have a plan right now. After the rival factions Fatah and Hamas managed to forge a united front in Cairo last April, they now plan to call on the UN General Assembly to recognize the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a sovereign Palestinian state in September.

Miller, however, views that plan as misguided. He argues that it will not change anything on the ground. Abbas only controls the West Bank. Without firm control over East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian state cannot be viable.

"It only changes anything if it sparks violence on the ground, and that could happen," Miller said.

Although it may change nothing in real political terms, the Palestinians are likely to move forward with their UN proposal. In their eyes, Netanyahu is not a serious negotiating partner.

"There is nothing new in Netanyahu's speech except that he is adding obstacles on the road toward a genuine, serious, lasting and comprehensive peace," Rudeina said.

Author: Christina Bergmann/Washington, Spencer Kimball (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
Editor: Rob Mudge