Obama: "Still Too Early"

Seems the clash on "settlements" is more a bit of a back-off.

BBC Interview Transcript:

Justin Webb: A lot of people are looking for specifics in your speech. And one of the areas, they're gonna be fascinated by, hanging on your every word, is Israel and the Palestinians, and what you say about that. You made it very clear, in recent weeks, to the Israeli government, that you want settlement building to be frozen in existing settlements. They've made it equally clear that they're not gonna do that. So what happens now?

President Obama: Well, it's still early in the conversation. I've had one meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I think that we have not seen a set of potential gestures from other Arab states, or from the Palestinians, that might deal with some of the Israeli concerns.

I do believe that, if you follow the roadmap approach that has been laid, if Israel abides by its obligations - that includes no settlements - if the Palestinians abide by their obligations, to deal with the security situation, to eliminate incitement, if all this - surrounding Arab states, working with the quartet, are able to encourage economic development and political development, then I think that we can actually make some progress.

So, you know, one of the things, in the 24/7 news cycle, is very difficult to encourage is patience. And diplomacy is always a matter of a long hard slog. It's never a matter of quick results.

Justin Webb: I'll accept that. But you have a senior member of the Israeli cabinet, the transport minister, saying, "I want to say in a crystal clear manner that the current Israeli government will not accept, in any fashion, that legal settlement activity be frozen." I mean, you've got a job of work, and I at least put it like that.

President Obama: Always have a lot of work. Yeah. I mean, nobody thought this was gonna be easy. If it was easy it would have been done. But I do think that we're going to be able to get serious negotiations back on track. And we're going to do everything we can. Because not only is it in the interest of the Palestinian people to have a state, it's in the interest of the Israeli people to stabilise the situation there. And it's in the interest of the United States that we've got two states living side by side in peace and security.

Justin Webb: What George Bush Senior did, concentrate the minds of the then Israeli government, was freeze loan guarantees to Israel. I don't want to ask you the specifics, because, obviously, you don't want to say at this stage. But are there, potentially, sanctions, if I could put it like that, that you could employ, that you would consider employing, against Israel if this Israeli government doesn't do what you want it do?

President Obama: I think that I've said my piece on this matter. We're going to continue negotiations. We think that it's early in the process, but we think we can make some progress.