I guess I'd understand if this former top official in the State Department had something to show for all the access he afforded the Israelis. Like, a peace deal. But no, it's been nonstop settlements, and Gaza slaughter. Ehud Barak had endless access to Clinton throughout 2000, Aaron David Miller says, and that was part of the problem. Abrams, who once said that outside of Israel Jews must stand apart from the society in which they live, also calls Binyamin Netanyahu "Bibi" in this interview. He never mentions any Palestinian in such familiar terms. While saying they have no claim on the '67 border, and describing the second intifada as a "giant, ongoing terrorist attack." From an interview with his sister-in-law (our whole family is neocons, she boasts), where, in the New York Times? No, in the Jerusalem Post. Abrams:
In the case of Sharon and Olmert, president Bush
trusted and had a very good relationship with both. That made it
possible to conduct diplomacy not only through the State Department and
your Foreign Ministry, but also to do it directly – leader-to-leader,
or between senior staff just under the leaders in the Prime Minister's
Office and the White House.
I was on the phone with [former ambassador to the US] Danny
Ayalon and [current Ambassador] Sallai Meridor two, three, sometimes
five or six times a day.
As for Netanyahu and Obama, I think they'll get along just fine
on a personal level, if Bibi indeed becomes prime minister. Both are
smooth, both charmers. As for the rest of it, well, that will depend on
Obama's appointments, on Bibi's coalition and on many external factors
that could come along and shape the way policy is determined in both
countries – such as a repeat of 9/11, for example.
(Phil Weiss)
