Azerbaijan, Baku, June 3 / Trend , U.Sadikhova /
Despite that Barack Obama's visit to the Arab countries will determine new direction of U.S. policy in the Middle East, the United States is not capable to pressure on Israel, considering the influence of the Jewish lobby in American politics, said a leading Arab analyst on the Middle East politics Oraib al- Rantawi
"Obama is not capable to pressure on Israel [in the peace process] because of the strong influence of the Jewish lobby in the United States, al-Rantavi, Director of Al Quds Center for Political Studies, told Trend by telephone from Amman. - Obama does not want to put a strong pressure on Israel because he wants to maintain relations with the Jewish lobby in Washington."
Prior to his visit to Egypt, Barack Obama said in an interview with French television that "his speech in Cairo will focus on improving relations [United States] with the Muslims, but it will not bring solutions to the problems in the Middle East, Al Jazeera website reported.
During his speech on Thursday on the tribune of Cairo University, Obama intends to lay the foundation for dialogue of the United States with the Muslim countries and call up to cooperate in the peace process and in combating terrorism, Al Jazeera reported referring to the White House .
Obama's speech on new U.S. relationship with the Islamic world will go after the United States demands to stop construction of Jewish settlements on the West Bank that hinder the establishment of an independent Palestinian state according to the "Road map", adopted by of the Quartet on the Middle East (Russia, USA, EU and UN).
However, al-Rantavi believes that despite the support for the peace process in the region with the aim of establishing a Palestinian state, before his speech, Obama does not want to bring great hopes regarding the U.S. mediation in negotiations of Arab countries and Israel.
"Obama knows that he can not put much pressure on Tel Aviv, and therefore, does not want to reinforce the expectations from the United States in the Middle East, taking into account the strong influence of the Jewish lobby," said al-Rantavi.
The Jewish lobby is known as influential groups and organizations that support the interests of the Jewish community in the United States (about 6.5 million) and Israel (7.3 million).
Accusations against this lobby include the influence of lobbyists in the Congress, which for many years has been approving any pro-Israeli action of the United States, and that is the lobby, especially one of its most powerful organizations is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), practically monopolized American foreign policy in the Middle East.
Exactly the AIPAC, founded in 1954 in support of the young Israeli state, demanded the Bush administration to reject the new Palestinian parliament democratically elected in 2005, in which Hamas gained majority.
Arab countries have already expressed their hope for a new policy of Obama in the Middle East and his support for the cessation of the construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.
During his first official visit to Russia, Foreign Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman said that "the expansion of Jewish settlements does not present obstacles for the peace process", in spite of the requirements of the Arab countries and the United States to freeze the construction of new homes, Vesti television channel reported.
Analysts did not exclude that the disagreement in the U.S. and Israeli policy - two strategic and military partner - could lead to a weakening of the U.S.-Israeli relations and the reduction of U.S. military aid to Israel. The United States has economic and military levers of pressure on Israel, considering that 96 percent of military supplies to Israel comes from Washington
However, al-Rantavi believes that before considering the differences in the current phase of the peace process between the United States and Israel, it needs to consider the possibility of Washington in the way of resolving the conflict in the region.
"Experience shows that the United States in the past was not capable [to pressure on Israel], and now can not, especially under the strong influence of the Jewish lobby in the country," said al-Rantavi.
The peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis stopped after the right government led by the leader of the Likud Party Binyamin Netanyahu came to power in Israel.
Foreign Minister of Israel Lieberman, whose party "Israel is Our Home" supported to end the peace talks, said that the establishment of an independent Palestinian State on the conditions of a peace conference in Annapolis is not possible unless economic situation is improved in the Palestinian territories.
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Jewish lobby not to allow U.S. pressure on Israel: Director of Al Quds Center for Political Studies
