Rough translation from the French:

Jewish associations divided after Obama’s speech

By Jim Jarrassé, published on 04/06/2009 18:40

If pacifists applaud the “rebalancing of the U.S. position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the CRIF is more measured.

A Palestinian state and the freezing of Israeli settlements. This is essentially what Barack Obama demanded in Cairo in his speech to the Muslim world. A direct tackle against Israel and its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who refuses to compromise on these two questions.

In France, leaders of Jewish organizations, who have carefully followed the intervention of U.S. President reacted differently to its injunctions.

“It’s very positive,” said Richard Wagman, president of the French Jewish Union for Peace (Union Juive Française pour la Paix, UJFP), a pacifist association that opposes Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. “George W. Bush had accustomed us to a different speech.”

According to him, peace in the Middle East is possible only through the end of Israeli settlements and a two-state solution: “This is what Barack Obama said. But I fear that these announcements are a huge communication operation that America is undertaking because it is worried about its disastrous image in Arab countries. ”

Richard Wagman calls for “the words to be followed by deeds. Israel needs to be penalised for it to move. The UJFP argues that the United States should take retaliatory economic measures and stop their arms trade with Israel.

As for the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (Conseil représentatif des institutions juives de France, CRIF), the majority sound a different tune. Its president, Richard Prasquier, is more reserved about the solutions proposed by Barack Obama. “Do not get caught in the trap of words. Everyone sees the reality of things in his own prism. The Israelis should be taken into consideration”.

Regarding the creation of a Palestinian state, the president of CRIF said that “Israelis are very concerned about their safety. The idea of a state led by Hamas is too frightening.” Before adding: “The recognition will not solve the conflict.”

On the issue of Israeli settlements, Richard Prasquier is more elusive: “The negotiations must continue. Some heavily populated settlements could remain in place, in exchange for equivalent territory for the Palestinians,” he says, before recognizing the need to restore a dialogue with Muslim countries: “All that leads to a demonization of Islam is unacceptable.”

Israeli reactions

Several Labor MPs have welcomed the speech by Barack Obama, arguing that Israel could “be a major beneficiary of the change in approach of the Americans.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he will give priority to the security of Israel. Other officials of the right have been more explicit: the Minister of Science Daniel Herschkowitz has asked the “Americans not to overshoot the mark”…