I always miss the best lines. A friend, Ilene Cohen, spotted the best line in Henry Siegman’s takedown of Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. It’s the last one, below:
Forty plus years into this conflict and into the creeping Israeli annexation of territory in the 22 percent of Palestine left the Palestinians, Haass pleads for patience for the situation to "ripen" before we try to end it by putting forward an American plan. He maintains that what is missing is not ideas, but the will and ability of the parties to compromise. Haass notes that "Palestinian leadership remains weak and divided; the Israeli government is too ideological and fractured; U.S. relations are too strained for Israel to place much faith in American promises."
One would have thought the problem has been placing faith in Israeli promises.
