"Realistic", Obama sees no agreement between Israel and Palestine to leave power

The US president, Barack Obama, came to the "realistic conclusion" that there will be a peace agreement and serious negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in the 14 months remaining to the end of his term, which ends in January 2017, he said the White House on Thursday (5).

Based on this conclusion, Obama will ask the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to take steps to prevent a two-state solution is fully diluted during a meeting between the two on Monday in Washington.

"The president has come to the realistic conclusion that there will be a peace agreement for the remainder of his term and probably not even there will be direct talks," said Rob Malley, an Obama adviser on the Middle East, told a news conference.

Obama himself had already stated in March, after the re-election of Netanyahu, who saw no prospect of establishing "a definitive March leading to a Palestinian state in direct negotiations."

"We can not continue our diplomacy based on something that everyone knows that will not happen, at least in the coming years," he said then US President.

The meeting that Obama held on Monday with Netanyahu is the first since the US came to this conclusion, and takes place amid growing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians because of the latest violence in the region.

"Obama wants to hear that ideas have the prime minister to help stabilize the situation and give a signal to the Palestinians that they are committed to a two-state solution" said Malley.

According to the adviser, this is the first time in 20 years that the White House is facing "a reality where the prospect of a two-state solution can not be reached" with the current environment in the region.

In this sense, Obama hopes that Netanyahu undertake "confidence-building actions" with the Palestinians, according to the deputy adviser to the White House national security, Ben Rhodes.

It is possible, therefore, that Obama again ask Netanyahu to halt settlement construction in the occupied territories because it "affects the confidence to move forward toward peace and endangers the viability of a Palestinian state," said Rhodes in news conference.

"The settlement activity is not congruent with the will to move towards a two-state solution. We hope that (the Israelis) take measures to promote this solution and discard actions that make this more distant perspective," said Malley.

Obama's capitulation to resolve the conflict is due in part to their frustration that Netanyahu had said on the eve of his re-election to the prime minister post, there would be a Palestinian state if he remained in power, statement of which He portrayed two days later, but which deeply angered the US government.

During his tenure, Obama tried several times to boost mediation in the dispute. The main one took place in 2013, when instructed the Secretary of State, John Kerry, mediate a dialogue that failed in April 2014.