J Street’s general doesn’t always agree with J Street

J Street brought a retired Israeli general to Washington this week to talk about President Obama’s Middle East peace initiative. But the funny thing was that Maj. Gen. (res) Danny Rothschild didn’t really agree with J Street — at least on a couple major issues.

Take the issue of settlements. J Street, according to its Web site, "supports President Obama’s call for an immediate and total freeze of settlement construction." But Rothschild — who served as deputy director of military intelligence and chief of the intelligence research and analysis department, as well as Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories during his IDF career, and also played a central role in the Madrid negotiations — said the settlement issue can’t be allowed to hold the "whole peace process hostage."

While he said the illegal settlements and outposts need to be dismantled, Rothschild also said that negotiations on a settlement building freeze should accompany broader Israeli-Palestinian talks, He suggested that hammering out where the border will be between the eventual two states should be a major area of focus.

(To be fair, J Street leaders in recent months, including political director Dan Kohl at Tuesday night’s program, noted that the organization feels an overall settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians is more important than the issue of settlements, but the organization has repeatedly stressed in its public statements the necessity of an immediate and total settlement freeze, something Rothschild did not endorse.)

Rothschild, who now serves as president of the Council for Peace and Security in Israel, also was outspoken in opposing demands that Israel halt "natural growth" of the settlements. He said that as long as settlements exist in the West Bank, those residing in them must be allowed "to live," and "life must go on"– although the government should keep a close eye and make sure that that settlers "only build what they need."

Then there was Iran. J Street supports President Obama’s efforts "to engage in a diplomatic dialogue with Iran as the most effective means" to stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and "believes that the immediate imposition of harsher sanctions on Iran would be counterproductive." Rothschild, though, when asked by one of the 30 people in attendance at the Washington DC JCC event why the U.S. wasn’t doing more to stop Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, noted the U.S. desire to have talks and threw up his hands in a puzzled/skeptical gesture.

Rothschild said that Iran will do anything it can to waste time during such talks and he didn’t see them accomplishing anything. Asked after the program to elaborate, he suggested the U.S. should place a two-week deadline on Iran during the talks and then proceed to further sanctions.

"We must stop the Iranian nuclear project as soon as possible," he said.

Overall, Rothschild stressed the importance of a two-state solution, but wasn’t particularly optimistic, skeptical that the ground on either side was ready yet to achieve a breakthrough.

He said that unlike Yasser Arafat, who Rothschild said was able to make peace but did not want to, he believes Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas wants to make peace but may not be strong enough to do so.

As for Israel, he said the average Israeli has a "real disbelief" that it will get any benefit from a peace deal with the Palestinians, and that President Obama should come to Israel and talk to the Israeli people — suggesting a speech to the Knesset as the best choice for a venue.

But "that’s not enough," Rothschild said. While Palestinians will get land in any deal, "it’s very difficult to show the average Israeli on the street he’s getting something" from such an agreement. That’s why, he said, it is essential that the Obama administration get the Arab world to be a strong participant in the peace process right now.

"The Arab Peace Initiative is not the best game in town, but it’s the best we have," he said. The problem with it, Rothschild said, is that the Arab world doesn’t normalize relations with Israel until the very end of negotiations. But normalization with the Arab world is a benefit that would influence Israelis to get on board, he said.

President Obama "needs to bring the king of Saudi Arabia to the Oval Office and persuade him it’s to his benefit to make some gesture to Israel," he said.

Sounds like a tough job.  Will J Street be able to act as the "president’s blocking back" on that?