One of the main themes of recent days is that the failure of the peace process has now shifted the European actors to take a larger role. Ilene Cohen points out this headline in Haaretz:
Jerusalem scrambles as European states move to upgrade ties with Palestinians
Reports indicate Palestinians urging about a dozen EU states to upgrade the PA’s diplomatic status;
Israel orders envoys abroad to take ‘urgent’ action against Palestinian efforts at UN.
and she adds:
They’re now fighting their war for Greater Israel on multiple fronts—in addition to the literal war against the Palestinian people. Eric Cantor, Howard Berman, Chuck Schumer, and the other friends of Israeli colonialism in the US Congress won’t be able to save them.
As for the administration:
According to information obtained by the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, senior American officials have approached Arab diplomats both in Washington, D.C. and UN headquarters in New York with the message that the measure is “unwise and unhelpful” and the administration therefore wants the Arabs to abandon it.How many times did the US respond to the most egregious, aggressive, and illegal behavior on the part of Israel will the pathetic words, “It [the latest war, the latest killings, the latest settlement expansion] is ‘not helpful.'” There’s something of a “just desserts” quality to the US using similar vapid language in pressing the Arabs to help poor little Israel. What goes around . . .
