I admit I'm something of a sap. I'm one who believes as long as there's a chance of accomplishing something, there ought to be an effort. But, perhaps as the occasionally sensible Thomas Friedman suggests, it's time for the U.S. ought to back away from the age old Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has become a bad play. It is obvious that all the parties are just acting out the same old scenes, with the same old tired clichés — and that no one believes any of it anymore. There is no romance, no sex, no excitement, no urgency — not even a sense of importance anymore. The only thing driving the peace process today is inertia and diplomatic habit. Yes, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has left the realm of diplomacy. It is now more of a calisthenic, like weight-lifting or sit-ups, something diplomats do to stay in shape, but not because they believe anything is going to happen.Right now we want it more than the parties.
...it’s time for us to dust off James Baker’s line: “When you’re serious, give us a call: 202-456-1414. Ask for Barack."
It's not like anyone needed ESP to put the pieces together; Hamas was freely elected by the Palestinians and, ultimately, drove the more conciliatory Palestinian Authority out of Gaza. PA President Mahmoud Abbas has been effectively neutered as leader of the Palestinians and Hamas lobs missiles into southern Israel with something near nonchalance. Israelis elected the nationalistic Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister, who then appointed the antagonistic Avigdor Lieberman as his Foreign Minister. Netanyahu has refused to end the settlement activity in the West Bank, a slap to the U.S. efforts to draw concessions from each side. Lieberman has made no bones about his position on peace with the Palestinians: Last month he advised U.S. envoy George Mitchell to just stay home:
“I will tell [Mr Mitchell] clearly, there are many conflicts in the world that haven’t reached a comprehensive solution and people learnt (sic) to live with it,”
As Glenn Greenwald pointed out yesterday, Friedman is a little vague about how the U.S. should pull back and suggests that the U.S. has a big bargaining chip that its never used:
For so long, it's been an unchallengeable given that we are required to continue to lavish Israel with aid and diplomatic protection even if they do things that our own government believes (or at least claims to believe) is directly harming the United States. Perhaps Friedman's implicit (if unintended) call for that to change -- and (Time columnist Joe) Klein's explicit call that it change -- signals a long-overdue erosion of that taboo.
Prime Minister Netanyahu is in Washington tonight for a meeting with President Obama. While it seems unlikely Obama will tell Netanyahu to get off the stick or Israel may find itself without the wholesale support the U.S. has lavished on Israel for fifty years, it might be smart for Mr. Netanyahu to consider that possibility.
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