Ron Kampeas at JTA has a report saying that AIPAC's call for a "viable Palestinian state" probably had the blessing of Netanyahu, but has angered the Zionist Organization of America.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
has tried to maintain ambiguity over his views on a Palestinian state,
but such an endorsement for the concept by AIPAC is unlikely to have
come without some sort of nod from Jerusalem: Netanyahu addressed the conference via satellite and sent some of his top advisers.
The endorsement of a Palestinian state by the pro-Israel lobby now
may spare Netanyahu from having to explicitly endorse the concept
himself — and elicit the opprobrium of his coalition's pro-settler
flank — when he meets with President Obama in two weeks.
Good save, Israel-side, but it upset the ZOA — the most prominent American pro-settler group — stateside.
In a statement, the ZOA said it "opposes this move by AIPAC because
supporting or promoting a Palestinian Arab state under prevailing
conditions is seriously mistaken and because AIPAC is thereby
supporting a major policy affecting Israel's vital interests despite
the fact that the Israeli government has not supported such a policy."
Netanyahu is playing a layered game. His adviser, Ron Dermer, said Sunday at AIPAC that Netanyahu was giving up on the political track with the Palestinians–i.e., negotiations–but sticking with the economic and security tracks. On Monday Netanyahu himself said in his address to the conference that he was going with three tracks: political, economic, security. One thing for sure, no one wants to alienate Obama.
