David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy is an important member of the Israel lobby. He wrote a book on the "peace process" lately with the Holy Avatar of the lobby, Dennis Ross. The avatar has lately been given enhanced powers in the Obama Administration for the simple undeniable reason that in order to do anything in Israel/Palestine, Obama must truck with the Israel lobby, not defy it. Foreign Policy:
The other group said to be concerned by Ross's perceived takeover of
Middle East turf is the team of Middle East Peace special envoy George Mitchell,
which now has to contend not only with resistance from all quarters of
the region, but also a rival power center in the NSC that hasn't tended
to see Middle East peace issues the same way.
What does Ross believe? Well, his co-author Makovsky (with the benediction of the Second Avatar of the lobby in the Congress, Howard Berman) seems to be endorsing the Avigdor Lieberman plan: give the Palestinians a state with a lot of land with Palestinians on it inside what is now Israel. Makovsky:
The settlement issue, on the other hand, can be addressed now. Settlers
should no longer remain in limbo; a demarcated border would place an
estimated 75-80 percent of the settlers inside Israel. In exchange, the
Palestinians would receive land swaps inside Israel equivalent to all
of the West Bank. Successful land negotiations would prove that
diplomacy — and not terror — is the key to making progress and
achieving results. Solving the land issue will not solve the remaining
contentious issues, but taking a pragmatic approach will demonstrate
progress, and a clear plan can then be devised for addressing the
remaining issues.
Makovsky may well mean the Lieberman idea of giving the Palestinians portions of the Galilee west to Umm al Fahm, for parts of the West Bank, thereby
disenfranchising those Palestinian Israeli citizens from their Israeli
citizenship (which may be preferable to them to living under the
Palestinian Authority). A further gerrymandering of the state to preserve a Jewish majority. Will it work? Will Obama endorse? You are talking about power politics.
Will it be fair? Will it last?
