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.
There is an unease in the Jewish community, an artificially created one.
But, there is a large unease with the failure of Israel to compromise on such an obvious issue as settlement expansion.
In this case the club is the same method as the scalpel. “NO” means no.
Enough is enough. Lets be happy with it.
Agreed. The subject of israeli expansion, whether vertical or lateral, should be
met with an Obama NO. That’s the least he can do with his personal political power mandate from the US masses. If Obama cannot start here, the USA is a captive nation.
Agreed. Obama’s not even asking for the settlements to be dismantled, simply for them to stop being expanded.
Israeli intransigence on this issue suggests to me that there are some in the country that don’t want peace.
agreed! I would also like to hear about the plan outline before the start of Ramadan! I love that the Arab governments requested that. So how will the Israelis get out of this one. Perhaps the same way the US government has failed to produce a decent health care plan. Plenty of talk for 60 years! Everybody is serious, everybody brings up good points and the obvious is the obvious. And then the years fly by.
Hi Michelle
That Obama health plan is very Orwellian. Scares me to death! It incorporates
priority of, say kidneys, by age, e.g., younger illegal alien gets kidney before
natural born senior citizen–decision made in Washington DC by a bureaucrat. Idea there is cost-benefit, why save the senior when the younger will live longer? Also,
take a gander at the system incorporated that will monitor all kids if they are deemed
anti-social, and their parents too, not to mention, the seniors will be monitored to make
sure they can mentally handle being in the waning years. By young bureaucrats of course.
Citizen,
As someone who lives under a universal healthcare system, I can testify that most right-wing attacks on it are simply untrue – like much of what you claim about Obama’s system, which is well to the right of our British system.
Healthcare is not rationed and Universal Healthcare is better value for money. The current Democrat proposals are too expensive, I’ll give you that but that’s because he’s attempting to compromise.
citizen,
for most of America they can’t afford health insurance and when they get sick or injured who picks up the tab anyway? Have you ever had to sit in an emergency room? It happens to the best of families who can’t afford $1000 a month for family health insurance. I was there just recently with someone because they know what it is like and they didn’t want to go alone. The place is unbelievable! What a zoo! The people wait forever, people are ill, injured and no one tends to them, it’s crowded and the people waiting get to the point of a pending riot. 6 hours we waited! Who can work in that atmosphere? Who can wait for what kind of care? I will never forget it. I go ahead and pay my fortune for Kaiser. $1000 a month for 3 healthy people. Not a happy camper here. So am I afraid to try something new? Nope. I hear what you’re saying and I am still not afraid. If I hate it one way maybe I will hate it another but the way I see it the worst that can happen is it can suck just like it sucked before.
Maybe if we simply started gassing Israelis the way Hitler supposedly did to their predecessors, they’d get the message that we are tired if their crap. Start with a few hundred thousand Zionazis in this country, maybe they’ll see we’re serious.
You ought to be banned. All you do is link anger at Israeli war crimes with your adolescent gibberings advocating genocide. The most charitable interpretation is that you’re a 13 year old kid seeking attention. Congratulations–sometimes it works.
israelis, there is no such thing as privacy in this country online or off…just as a courtesy reminder.
@LI
So you’re a Holocaust denier as well as being in favor of the murder of a few hundred thousand Jews in America? Good to know. You’re claim to being Jewish is less and less credible.
Phil, I realize that you run a hate site, but do you really want to be running a site that advocates the murder of hundreds of thousands of American Jews? You really should consider slapping a warning label on LIs posts to say that you don’t support them. I don’t advocate banning or deleting since I think it is important that people coming here see what kind of people support you.
What precisely do you mean by the term “holocaust denier?”
You mean like somebody convinced Santa Claus exists?
We know Santa is fiction. We know lots of Jews died during the 3rd Reich.
I suggest you review those video clips on YouTube a commenter mentioned today on another thread here if you’re short of time to review
the many books rationally questioning many things once taken as gospel about the Holocaust, for example death by Zyklon B gassing, human lamp shades, bars of soap, etc. If memory serves, there are 7 clips by a Jew called Cole.
I only JUST found this post.
it is NOT mine!!
We’ve all told Phil repeatedly to kick the israelis OFF the site for continued violation of terms of service!
They won’t do it and this is the result.
So Obama sets a deadline. And the deadline passes without Israeli compliance. Then what?
A deadline, or any ultimatum, has to imply an “or else.” Stop building settlements, or else. But Obama doesn’t have an “or else.” Ha’aretz recently reported that US officials have denied they were planning to exert economic pressure on Israel. As long as Obama’s demands remain toothless, it’s no wonder that Netanyahu has no problem brushing them off.
We can pass that hurdle when we come to it, but if it does happen, then we know there’s nothing Obama can do and that the two-state solution is officially dead.
But when Obama’s WH announces in advance that he will not impose the most obvious sanctions, it’s as if he’s declaring upfront that he can and will do nothing to enforce his demands.
potsherd–
Well, I’ve heard some thoughtful comments questioning the truthfulness of the report that Obama will not impose financial sanctions. The story could well be disinformation.
Obama has not hinted in any way that he will use our annual welfare dole to Israel as leverage for his anti-new-settlement stance, delivered in Cairo–jeez, he’s not even talking about the continuous settlement expansion since 1967, for which he has
official USA policy and international agreement they are illegal. If Obama can’t get a “freeze” on settlement expansion up and sideways, he’s useless as tits on a boar, and a total sham–except when it comes to pressing domestic health policies that favor illegal aliens and minorities (in a land where whites will soon be just another minority as they already are in terms of new births).
“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.”
Oh yes, this sounds like those who crave peace…
Although the amount of financial aid to Israel is often the most publicized assistance given by the US, I suspect that there might be some far more meaningful sanctions that could be imposed—in joint military planning, intelligence sharing, diplomatic cover, etc.
Those may well be less dramatic to the public, but they may be far more coercive to Israel than the $3 billion.
I am still haunted by Bill Clinton’s experience as one who was hoping to champion the peace between Israel and Palestine. He walked away with more Israeli settlements built on his watch and less peace than ever before. I really don’t understand it though, the deal was a sick joke from a Palestinian perspective, or from any intelligent person’s perspective. And then they blamed Arafat for turning it down. I don’t understand the game being played. I guess it’s “everyone pass the buck” because no one can stand up to the Israelis but maybe they don’t realize it until they get to a certain point. Otherwise I don’t understand the waste of time.
@michelle
The deal was Gaza, East Jerusalem and 97% of the West Bank. After that offer, Arafat just walked away, no counter offer, he just walked away. In what way is the Israeli offer a “sick joke”?
Perhaps, Thom if you had some knowledge of the topic outside of the crap you read in Commentary and the like – some facts about what occurred, in other words – you wouldn’t have to ask such a pathetically stupid question.
Between the annual unencumbered dole to israel, and to Egypt (to kiss Israel, right or wrong), the USA government clearly shows who’s important–whole continents are not important in comparison. Check it out. When you add in the “loans” to Israel that are always
forgiven (since a grant would require USA monitoring of conditions precedent), and all the Memorandums of Undertanding (e.g., guaranteed free fuel for Israeli F-16s
and overlooking Israel theft of USA intellectual property rights), and the perennial
US UN Security Counsel veto, alone suppressing UN full-blown notice of Israel as
a rogue state, and that intelligence sharing, military sharing, etc that poneywooodslim mentions–what do we have? A lot of leverage if Obama chooses
to use it towards peace efforts. Israel has been the recipient of more US tax dollars
that any nation, especially if you consider both direct and indirect aid. An average
Israeli Jew gets more US federal welfare aid than an average US natural born citizen–any year for close to the last forty years.
Admittedly I am a bit puzzled by Laura Rozen lately, too, actually a bit longer now.
She is heavily unbalanced towards the hawks. Interesting how she manages to squeeze even Jeremy Ben Ami in a Obama critical perspective in her larger context.
I think she is aware of this:
“The problem that all Arabs have is that the administration keeps talking to them about steps of normalization,” the former senior George H.W. Bush official said. “But they feel they have offered the ultimate step towards normalization” — in the Arab peace initiative — “not steps toward it — in other words the whole enchilada — full normal ties with Embassies, end of conflict, and so on. They don’t understand why the administration wants to do a piecemeal approach.” And the “buy-in” for Arab leaders “has to be settlement freeze, for however long it takes to get a discussion on borders, including what settlement blocks are going to become part of Israel or not, leading to talks on Jerusalem and refugees,” the official continued. “To them it seems very logical.”
Middle East expert and former consultant to the U.S. National Intelligence Council Stephen P. Cohen, author of the forthcoming Beyond America’s Grasp: A Century of Failed Diplomacy in the Middle East, said the all-or-nothing style of thinking of the Arab peace plan may reflect the fact that Arab leaders such as Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah, because they are autocrats, can make decisions without having to bring along parliaments and win elections. Israeli prime ministers and American presidents, of course, do not have as much discretion.
But, speaking at a small forum this week in Washington, Cohen said that on his recent trips to Riyadh and Cairo, Arab leaders told him of another concern: that Mubarak and Abdullah, both in their 80s, believe they are the last leaders of their nations who will have such a pro-American orientation, and be either as able or inclined to help deliver peace. Their own abilities to do so, he said, may be reduced as possible succession struggles set in.
One U.S. official who has dealt with Riyadh told Foreign Policy on condition of anonymity Thursday that the Saudis are very good at telling the U.S. what it needs to do, and not as good at doing what they need to do to help push a resolution to the Israeli Arab dispute. What would that be? “To make it easier for the Israelis to say yes.”
UPDATE: The impending Gates, Jones and Mitchell trips are all separate from each other, a U.S. official told Foreign Policy Friday. Gates had not been to Israel in more than two years. He’s going to discuss bilateral security relations, he said. Mitchell is going to discuss the peace process, and Jones’ group, chiefly Iran.
Dennis Ross has a wider charge than of these men.
I think the Arabs are quite right in taking this position. What Obama is asking for is concrete concessions from the Arabs in exchange for promises from the Israelis. Israel has made too many false promises, all the time continuing to establish more of the settlements it has promised not to build.
Let Israel take the first concrete steps this time, and that means more than pulling down a shed and standing by while the settlers replace it and then go on a rampage against the Palestinians – while Israeli forces stand by and watch.