Over at The Cable, Laura Rozen discusses the diplomatic plans for Robert Gates, George Mitchell, and James Jones in Israel next week, and gives some curious insight into the present U.S./Israel relationship.
The article starts off discussing the possibility that President Obama may need to set a deadline in order to break the stalemate with the Israeli Government:
‘ Last night, at his White House news conference, Barack Obama was asked to explain his logic for pushing an August deadline on getting health reform legislation passed. "If you don’t set deadlines in this town, things don’t happen," the U.S. president said. "The default position is inertia … There’s always going to be some interest out there that decides, ‘You know what, the status quo is working for me a little bit better.’"
The same might be said about the current dispute between the Obama administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Washington’s demand that Israel freeze Jewish settlements in the West Bank. For several weeks, U.S. Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell has been negotiating with Israeli leaders over what exactly a settlement freeze means, as Israeli leaders have looked for wiggle room. Obama says his tough line on Israeli settlements is intended to remove a key obstacle to getting to a two-state solution and advancing peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as between Israel and Arab states. ‘
After describing the itinerary of the US officials, she notes not only Mort Klein’s typical anger over the US position on settlements, but alludes to "doubts" in the left wing pro-Israel community on this issue and the President’s overall Israel/Palestine diplomacy. (In reality, they are non-existent. Just look for any statements from officials of J Street, APN or Brit Tzedek v’ Shalom that do not fully support the President.)
‘ Obama’s stance on Israel is facing predictable criticism from more right-leaning pro-Israel groups in the United States. . . But more troubling perhaps for Obama are doubts from some who strongly support his push to resolve the conflict.
"I think it is extremely important to send this firm message," on his resolve to solve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, said Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the left-leaning pro-peace group J Street. "But if one is choosing something to have a true, go-to-the-mat moment with between the U.S. and Israel, should one really choose it on a piece of puzzle, or do it around a real resolution on how to go forward and try to end the conflict?" ‘
Next, she uses everyone favorite Middle East "expert" David Makovsky to drive home his Solomon-like answer to the resolution of this US/ Israel impasse……vertical expansion!
‘ "There needs to be a conclusion to the U.S.-Israel impasse over settlements that deals with the core principle that the Obama administration is seeking to promote: no prejudging of negotiations," said David Makovsky, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and coauthor with Ross of Myths, Illusions and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East.
"This can be achieved by the Obama administration’s focus on ‘no geographic expansion’ of settlements with a mechanism to monitor its implementation," Makovsky continued. "The current approach of the administration, with its focus on the phrase ‘settlement freeze,’ sadly uses an axe when a scalpel is needed. The current approach sets an unrealistic bar. If the Israelis want to build vertically without expanding the constructed footprint of the settlement, this has
nothing to do with any conceivable interpretation of land encroachment. Therefore, by perpetuating the impasse with Israel instead of bringing it to a swift conclusion, [the United States is] blocking the very idea that the we seek to promote: commencing Israeli- Palestinian negotiations." ‘
Then, she reinforces doubts about Obama by speaking to a right-wing Jewish leader who attended last week’s White House Meeting (Hoenlein, Harris, Foxman, other?). This person perpetuates the lie about the Jewish community’s unease with Obama.
‘ "My sense is they know that while they got a majority of the Jewish vote … that there is an unease in the community," said one involved right-leaning Jewish leader who met with Obama earlier this month, who asked to speak anonymously. "I think they know they have a problem. Ross is being brought in" to the White House because they know "they have some problems in the policy. But that doesn’t mean the policy will change."
An earlier post from Ms. Rozen about a proposed D.C. meeting between President Obama and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in mid-August included information concerning a request from Arab leaders:
‘Arab governments would like the Obama administration to make a more public statement outlining its plan for advancing Middle East peace before the start of Ramadan (which begins around August 20), the former government consultant, who asked to speak on background, said.’
If this is true, then the President has four weeks to stop appeasing the powerful and get the peace process moving forward. He and his Administration have done an excellent job reaching out to all elements of the Status-Quo, Pro-Israel community. It is now time to for Obama to stop listening and start acting, otherwise these "experts" and "leaders" will continue to find new and destructive ways of playing out the clock.
