Speaking of how our Israel policy is made, here is an excerpt from an interview by an Israeli TV reporter of Sec’y of State Condoleezza Rice two weeks ago. What is remarkable in this interview is that Gil Tamary, the Israeli reporter, is pushing the American secretary of state to do more to stop the settlements:
QUESTION: More than a
month has passed since the Annapolis summit and many people are feeling
that the momentum in — from Annapolis already gone because not much
has been done on the ground. So I wonder, do you feel that both
leaders, Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas, are doing what you expect for them
to do in the pace you expect for them to do in order to meet the
deadline of reaching an agreement?SECRETARY RICE: Well, I very much trust these two
leaders that they want very much to achieve agreement in the year 2008.
They have both made statements since Annapolis that reaffirm their
commitment to do so. It’s not easy….QUESTION: What about the unauthorized outposts? They haven’t been evacuated yet, they haven’t been dismantled yet.
SECRETARY RICE: Well, I was very much struck by
what Prime Minister Olmert said when he talked about Israel’s need to
meet its obligations as well as the Palestinians’ need to meet its
obligations….QUESTION: But what about people on the ground? On the ground, nothing has been done.
SECRETARY RICE: Well, I wouldn’t say that nothing has been done.
QUESTION: Very little.
SECRETARY RICE: In fact, again, these are issues
that are very, very hard. But we do expect both sides to act with
urgency.
What is remarkable about this conversation is that all the pressure to do something about the illegal settlements (an Orwellian term for colonies) is coming from the Israeli reporter. Rice is demurring gently. At about the same time, George Bush said that these colonies "ought to go." Very mild language. And nothing has happened. The disgrace here is that these are the highest officials of the most powerful country on earth, and they are afraid to take this issue on. It is not because they like the settlements. Rice, for instance, has at times quietly likened the West Bank to the segregated south of her youth. The reason they don’t take this issue on–even with the support of leftleaning Israelis– is simply political; that they are afraid of an empowered faction in American society. The Israel lobby, which the Democratic candidates also are afraid to cross. Walt and Mearsheimer once used the word "stranglehold." In a stranglehold you can’t speak…
