Rick Perry cites Obama ‘errors’ in peacemaking efforts

(JTA) — Rick Perry wrote that Palestinian leaders are attempting to exploit what they perceive as a weakening of relations between Israel and the United States.

Perry, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, wrote Sept. 16 in The Wall Street Journal that the Obama administration has reinforced this perception and caused the Palestinians to back away from peace negotiations by calling for a settlement construction freeze by Israel as a precondition for talks, as well as by acceding to the Palestinian demand for indirect negotiations through the United States.

"Unfortunate errors by the Obama administration have encouraged the Palestinians to take steps backward away from peace," wrote Perry, the governor of Texas.

He called on the Obama administration and the United Nations to  "do everything possible to discourage the Palestinian leadership from pursuing its current course" of evading peace talks by turning to the United Nations, writing that the move is "a basic failure of leadership and a betrayal of the true interests of the Palestinian people."

Perry said the United States should oppose the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations "by using our veto in the Security Council, as President Obama has pledged, and by doing everything we can to weaken support for the unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood in the General Assembly, even at this late date."

In addition, he wrote, "The United States must affirm that the precondition for any properly negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is the formal recognition of the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state behind secure borders."

Perry will hold a pro-Israel news conference in New York this week to coincide with the Palestinian statehood bid expected Friday, Israel Hayom reported.