Netanyahu's "to-do list"? 'Open for negotiations!'

FP/ here

The Obama administration's list of "actions" it wants to see from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is open to negotiation, not a hard list of demands as many believe, according to one Obama administration official close to the discussions. The list was delivered to Netanyahu during his two-plus hours of meetings with President Obama last week....

A widely read report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz claimed that the United States views a four-month settlement freeze as a way to induce the Palestinians to conduct direct negotiations with Israel, rather than the proximity talks Vice President Joseph Biden trumpeted in Israel just before the Israeli Interior Ministry announced that 1,600 new housing units has been approved in contested East Jerusalem. Several administration officials declined to give any readout of the Obama-Netanyahu meeting, saying they just don't want to spell out what Obama asked of Netanyahu because they don't want to be boxed into any specific perception of what a solution would look like.

Now, more than a week after Netanyahu's return to Israel and with still no apparent break in the impasse between the two close allies, one administration official tells The Cable that the U.S. side is open to Netanyahu coming back to the administration with his own alternative ideas about how to satisfy U.S. concerns about Israel's commitment to the peace process. ......The official was quick to point out that the U.S. is still putting pressure on Netanyahu to take specific actions to "improve the atmosphere" and demonstrate Israel's willingness to repair what is perceived in Washington as a breach of trust.
Regardless, the Obama team is now in waiting mode. "The ball is more or less in their court at the moment," the official said of the Israelis.

Some observers interpreted the official's remarks as a sign the administration is backpeddling from its initially tougher stance by easing off its demand that Netanyahu agree to the U.S. requests as they were. "They're backing down," one Middle East hand said of the Obama team. "There's a recognition that they put themselves in a box and they are trying to find a way out of it. They are trying to find a way to move forward."

Others disagree.

"They're not backing down," said New America Foundation fellow Daniel Levy. "By keeping their demands private, by definition they are preserving a measure of flexibility."

It's somewhat unclear whether or not the administration's flexibility is incongruent with what Obama told Netanyahu in their private meeting because the White House has been so tight-lipped about it. But one diplomatic source said that when Obama gave Netanyahu his list of requests, it was not open for negotiation....

Only time will tell if Obama will be compelled to further concede to whatever it is Netanyahu feels he can deliver on the issue.

"The backing down will have to be judged by what they ultimately accept from the Israelis," said Rob Malley, .....