It looks like the changing public discourse is beginning to affect Walter Russell Mead in the American Interest, but he’s unsure of how far he can go without being “revealed” as an anti-Semite. He actually says–and this is shocking for him:
I happen to believe that such a freeze would be a smart move on Israel’s part — but what I think and you think isn’t the issue. It’s what the Israeli government thinks that counts.
America’s great advantage as a peacemaker flows from our special relationship with Israel. Israel trusts America more than it trusts any other power; as long as that is true it will be more forthcoming in American-led negotiations than in any other forum. America can get Israel to make more concessions than anybody else — but that power derives from the confidence Israel has in our backing. The Arabs value the US because we can get Israel to agree to compromises they can’t get on their own; our special relationship with Israel is not an obstacle to US outreach to Palestinians — it is the key to our ability to work with them.
President Obama does not and never did have the power to make Israel deliver the total freeze he unwisely commanded.
The Northern Ireland peace process held out the hope for better lives for almost everyone involved; many Palestinians do not see a two state agreement with Israel as something that will make their lives better.
The similarities between the Northern Irish conflict and the Israel-Palestine fight are superficial; the differences are deep and profound. First, both of the nationalist movements in Israel-Palestine are expansionist and unsatisfied. In Ireland, the Ulster Protestants just wanted to keep what they had; they didn’t want to build new settlements in Dublin and Cork and they didn’t want the restoration of British rule across the whole island. In Israel, there are many people who think that the Zionist task is unfinished until the entire land is redeemed. On the Palestinian side, there are also many people who think the 1949 boundaries are wrong; they want the whole thing back, not just the West Bank and Gaza.
