Dennis Ross’s ‘messy and difficult’ peace process produced zilch for you know who

A friend writes: You may already know but it isn't widely known that Dennis Ross was brought into government by Paul Wolfowitz, when PW was deputy assistant secretary of defense for regional programs under Harold Brown at the Pentagon in the Carter administration. By Bush I Ross had become the leading adviser to James Baker--a different Israel position from that of Clinton which followed. He was originally a Soviet specialist at U.C. Berkeley (from which Wolfowitz took him away): see James Mann, Rise of the Vulcans, pp. 79 et passim. On the evidence, one would say that, like Condoleezza Rice--another former Soviet expert, whose circles of ascent and influence intersected with those of Wolfowitz--Ross is mainly a careerist.

Weiss:

The Wolfowitz connection is not mentioned in The Missing Peace, Ross's grand tome on the neverending peace process that produced nothing for the Palestinian right to self-determination, even as the settlements doubled. My friend James North makes this point about Ross's efforts in the 90s: the Wagner Act in 1935 established the right of collective bargaining for workers in America. But what followed, he says, was a period in which companies would say, "We're talking, we're negotiating with our workers," and the talks would drag on forever and nothing would come of it, and the workers would stay at their original level. For this reason Congress had to enact legislation that called for these negotiations to be "good-faith" negotiations. Very hard to prove, yes. But it is very easy to prove that Israel conducted its negotiations in the 90s without good faith. And who can blame them? They were the empowered party and had the backing of the superpower. Why give an inch.

The most significant revelations in The Missing Peace are that good Obama liberals like Mel Levine of California were holding the line on settlements back in the 90s when George Bush I was angry about them. Bush ultimately blamed his '92 loss in part on this opposition! Clinton had campaigned in '92 FOR the settlements because of people like Mel Levine. When anyone asks you why the two-state solution is dead, you can say, Well Dennis Ross and Mel Levine and other powerful members of the Israel support crowd here didn't negotiate in good faith after the Most Important event in post-67 Israel/Palestine history: the concession in 1988 by Yasir Arafat to recognize Israel. To accept partition.

And look what that great concession has won for the Palestinians! And so you wonder why Hamas has not sacrificed that portion of its charter. Though many of its leaders have indicated that they are willing to accept Israel's existence. Thereby showing good faith. Dennis Ross, a man of no vision and considerable diplomatic talent (I concede that in a second) but also the ability to lie (he denied in '06 that the Israel lobby even existed), exalts the "messy and difficult" business of negotiating Middle East peace throughout his book. Messy and difficult, oh yes. But producing absolutely nothing, but more landgrabs. Who wouldn't be cynical?