Rahm Emanuel on Charlie Rose, picked up in Haaretz by Akiva Eldar. Excerpt 1:
But even more importantly, he believes that both parties, Israeli and
Palestinian, need to "put aside the negotiations about the negotiations and
begin their negotiations," Emanuel told interviewer Charlie Rose. "And you
can’t start as if there hasn’t been a process."
"If you don’t make progress and engage in the process of making peace," he
continued, "you give Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran, who are enemies of the peace
process, and vocal opponents of it, a veto."
Comment 1 (from a friend. I only wish I was this smart):
Put aside negotiations about the negotiations and begin the negotiations with a
process. And do it on your own (the president doesn’t really have the time).
What mush. And notice: inclusion of Hamas in talks has been ruled out. Yet no
arrangement for all Palestinians can exclude Hamas (cf. Gideon Levy’s column).
Emanuel and Obama are sure that they want Israel’s enemies to be our enemies.
Nothing can come of it at this rate.
Excerpt 2, from the transcript:
They live side by side. You can’t want this more than they want it. They have a responsibility to their people if they want to make peace and have a two-state solution that’s based on the principles of past Israeli governments and past American presidents regardless of party have endorsed, as have past Palestinian leaders. They have a responsibility. We don’t have — we can’t want this more than they want it.
Comment 2, the same friend:
Well, these words from Emanuel are a total cop-out. It means that he is advising Obama not to appear (and therefore, not to be) "pro-active." No hope without the U.S. on the scene but they’ve already found the rhetorical formula to justify backing away.
(h/t Helena Cobban)
