By all accounts, the Obama team is not close to presenting a full set of goals for the negotiations. But behind the scenes, it is trying to orchestrate a complex diplomacy that will involve step-by-step compromises by both Israel and moderate Arab states toward a final settlement.
As a first step, U.S. officials have been pushing Israel to freeze the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank in return for a partial normalization of relations from the Arab states. Under this scenario, moderate Arab states would take steps such as exchanging diplomats and allowing commercial flights with Israel.
Netanyahu has signaled that he wants Arab states involved in the peace effort. But winning a commitment from his government to halt settlement expansion would be "tricky," said Indyk, especially if it would bar so-called natural growth of existing settlements in the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War.
Many Israelis believe that growth is not worth the trouble it causes for Israel internationally. But settlement supporters are powerful enough to punish any Israeli government that moves to halt them.
Netanyahu has been carefully laying the groundwork for the White House meeting, at first sounding as if he would strongly resist the U.S. peace push, but gradually appearing more amenable.
He is expected to use the words "peace" and "negotiations" and outline his proposal to build the economy and institutions in the West Bank, especially the security forces that might help suppress attacks. But many will closely watch to see whether he uses the phrase "two-state solution."
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday that he believed Netanyahu would acknowledge that "at the end of the process, the objective is two peoples living side by side in peace and security."
The two-state outcome is opposed by many of the conservative Israelis whose support is crucial to maintaining Netanyahu's political coalition.
Netanyahu's primary focus in the meeting will be Iran. His aides say he will argue that the U.S. needs to help Israel eliminate the threat posed by an already hostile nation allegedly seeking to build nuclear weapons. Otherwise, Netanyahu has said, a Palestinian state would provide territory that could expand the danger posed by Tehran and allied militant groups.
