Two nights back I received the following email from The Israel Project (TIP) after a long day of watching the Middle East peace circus that has descended on Washington :
Subj: Netanyahu: “We Seek a Peace That Will Last for Generations”
· At White House dinner, Netanyahu tells Abbas, “You are my partner in peace”
· Netanyahu came to Washington to find “historic compromise”
· Netanyahu: “Peace must be defended against its enemies”
…. Abbas’s comments weren’t immediately available.
Of course, PLO Chairman Abbas delivered remarks at that very dinner but The Israel Project, a lobbying shop founded in 2002, wasn’t immediately interested in them. Why is TIP afraid of quoting Abbas alongside Netanyahu’s “yes we can” talking points?
For TIP, the substance of Abbas’ remarks is irrelevant. It’s more important to make it look as if the Palestinian interlocutor forgot to show up to dinner. Here is an excerpt of Abbas’ comments which TIP managed to miss:
It is time to make peace, it is time to end the occupation that began in 1967, and for the Palestinian people to achieve their freedom, independence and justice… We strongly condemned what happened yester day in Hebron . Also we condemned what happened today. We do not want any drop of blood to be shed neither from Palestinian nor Israelis. We want peace between our two peoples. We want to live as partners and neighbors. Let us sign a final peace agreement, and end, forever, a long era of conflict.
The Israel Project’s attempt to make Chairman Abbas appear wholly absent from the re-launch of negotiations is predictable. It’s part of the lobbying organization’s oft-repeated “Palestinian partner” narrative, which sounds something like, "the Israelis have no partner for peace so give ‘em a break.”
It’s difficult to make Netanyahu look like a genuine peace-maker; for TIP, the path of least resistance is to paint Abbas as a peace-rejectionist.
Another example of this: on Friday, August 20, when the White House first invited Israelis and Palestinians to the dinner talks, The Israel Project pulled a similar trick. TIP sent out a mass-mailing to journalists with the subject, “Correction: PA President Has Yet to Respond to U.S. Invitation for Direct Talks.”
It’s no huge surprise that PLO Chairman Abbas did not instantly issue a press release on a Friday during Ramadan. But beyond the common sense of why Abbas hadn’t RSVPed, The Israel Project failed to clarify exactly what they were “correcting.”
The note which they had blasted to journalists just an hour earlier boasted the headline, “Israeli PM Accepts U.S. Invitation for Direct Talks, PA President Remains Skeptical.” Perhaps TIP was only projecting their own skepticism as they neither quoted Abbas nor his office. TIP was either doing a shoddy job of reporting on the latest developments or distributing a press release that bordered on disingenuous.
There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of next steps on the peace-processing front. But here’s a tip for TIP – don’t play the blame game before the whistle has even been blown.
Meanwhile, The Israel Project wasn’t immediately available to comment.
Jonathan Guyer is an assistant editor of The Middle East Channel and a program associate, of the Middle East Task Force at the New America Foundation.
