Washington – Dennis B. Ross, a seasoned diplomat who has been one of President Obama’s most influential advisers on Iran, the Middle East peace process and the political upheaval in the Arab world, will leave the White House in December, a senior administration official said on Thursday.
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Mr. Ross, who announced his departure at a lunch with Jewish leaders, told White House officials that he promised his wife he would leave the government after two years. He joined the administration in February 2009 as a senior adviser in the State Department before moving to the National Security Council that June.
His departure, following that of Mr. Obama’s special envoy to the region, George J. Mitchell, in May, leaves the White House with a much-diminished bench on the Middle East, symbolizing how much the peace process has faded since Mr. Obama proclaimed it would be one of his top foreign policy goals.
A Middle East envoy to three presidents, Mr. Ross, 62, is known for his painstaking approach to diplomacy and longstanding ties to Israeli leaders, which made him an important interlocutor with Israel behind the scenes, but also stood in stark contrast to the bolder instincts and more distant approach of his boss.
Mr. Ross’s departure, the official said, was not a result of disputes over policy. He was involved in devising Mr. Obama’s most recent proposal to revive the negotiations, under which the Israelis and Palestinians would use the prevailing borders before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war as a starting point, and adjust them to account for Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The proposal, made by Mr. Obama in a speech last spring, failed to break a deadlock between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and in September, the Palestinian Authority petitioned the United Nations Security Council for recognition and full membership, over the objections of the United States.
While that campaign for full membership now seems likely to fail, it has soured whatever prospects remained for negotiations. Mr. Ross made several trips to the region in recent weeks, trying to persuade the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, not to go ahead with his membership campaign.
With Mr. Obama heading into what promises to be a tough election year, Middle East experts said there was little incentive for Mr. Obama to thrust himself back into the process. The Republican candidates for president, sensing an opportunity to make inroads among Jewish voters, have emphasized support for Israel and criticized Mr. Obama for what they say is his lack of support for a close ally.
Mr. Obama’s relations with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have been rocky, dating back to the administration’s demand that the Israeli government halt construction of settlements in the West Bank. Israel did agree to halt building for 10 months last year, but resumed it in the fall, complaining that the Palestinians had waited until three weeks before the moratorium expired to start talking.
The impression of poor personal chemistry was reinforced by reports of a private conversation last week between Mr. Obama and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, in which Mr. Sarkozy described Mr. Netanyahu as a “liar,” with whom he would not do business, and Mr. Obama appeared to sympathize.
“You are fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you,” Mr. Obama replied, according to accounts of the conversation, which was picked up by microphones and overheard by French journalists at the Group of 20 summit meeting in Cannes.
The White House declined to comment on the exchange, though Benjamin Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, insisted on Wednesday that Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu had developed a close working relationship.
The administration has tightened military cooperation between the United States and Israel, a process in which Mr. Ross has been closely involved. He traveled regularly to Israel, meeting with top security advisers to Mr. Netanyahu like Yitzhak Molcho, whom he has known for decades.
Mr. Ross was also involved in devising the administration’s pressure tactics against Iran, after Mr. Obama’s initial overtures fell flat. Tensions with Iran have risen in recent days because of a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency laying out evidence that Iran has continued to work on a nuclear weapon.
Another area where Mr. Ross played a role was in fashioning the response to the turmoil in Arab countries, where the White House often found itself balancing strategic interests – and authoritarian rulers with whom it had long ties – against a desire to back the democratic aspirations of young Arabs.
Mr. Ross, who is the author of several books on diplomacy and statecraft, oversaw the drafting of a secret report for the president last year, which concluded that the Arab world was ripe for political upheaval and suggested ways for the United States to promote democratic reform.
This is a big loss to both the Administration and EY. Dennis is one of the few individuals with trust on all sides and will not be easily replaced. However, he has given up much of his life over the past two years to a nearly impossible task and deserves some much needed time with his family (and to work on his golf game which his is second love after his wife).
Dennis Ross is a well-intended, but sadly misguided, naive, and left-leaning operative.
Baruch shepetaranu