Israel-Arab-Obama Impasse – Where Next?

Institute for Public Affairs ^ | November 12, 2009

[SJackson]

Last week, there was a spate of editorials and punditry on how President Obama and his team have misfired in their efforts to have Israelis and Palestinians back at the table negotiating a final peace deal.

Even NYTimes’ Tom Friedman let forth his frustration by calling for the President to “get out of the picture” and leave Israelis and Palestinians alone until they are ready to come back to the table of their own needs and will. (Hey, wasn’t that an approach Friedman and others regularly attacked President G.W. Bush for engaging in?)

This week saw Rahm Emanuel standing in for President Obama in delivering a speech to the Jewish community to reassure it of the President’s best intentions, and the President meeting at The White House with Prime Minister Netanyahu – although getting the meeting scheduled, not to mention that not even a photo of the two leaders meeting was released, ruffled feathers.

But having put the speech and the meeting to bed, the Obama team has to be trying to figure out where to go next – and one has to presume that Tom Friedman’s option is not an option for a White House whose National Security Adviser deemed this the “epicenter” of policy issues.

So, brace yourself for seeing more proposals bandied about. Walter Russell Mead suggests Obama ought to invest more heavily in the Palestinians.

We suspect – and fear – that others might start floating notions that it is time for the President to publicly put forward, as “the Obama plan” – a specific set of proposals for a final agreement along the lines of what foreign policy elites say “everyone knows” the final deal will look like. We fear this because what we know is that while “everyone” at cocktail parties or in panel discussions might “know” how the Israeli-Arab conflict will be resolved, it is the people who live in that region and whose lives are at stake who cannot afford to have an abstraction asserted that does not actually guarantee peace and security. And until Israel’s enemies “know” what “everyone knows” and can “recite it in their sleep,” it is more dangerous than useful to contemplate an American proposal.

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[SJackson]

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Maybe he should give some thought to Afghanistan first.

[rod1]

“This week saw Rahm Emanuel standing in for President Obama in delivering a speech to the Jewish community to reassure it of the President’s best intentions, and the President meeting at The White House with Prime Minister Netanyahu – although getting the meeting scheduled, not to mention that not even a photo of the two leaders meeting was released, ruffled feathers.”

The above demonstrates just how inept this WH really is on anything that goes beyond simple posturing. They have the huge disadvantage of actually believing their own tripe even when NO ONE else in the audience does. Hope Rahm enjoyed his twinkle-toes act because it sounds like no one else did.

[SunkenCiv]

...while "everyone" at cocktail parties or in panel discussions might "know" how the Israeli-Arab conflict will be resolved, it is the people who live in that region and whose lives are at stake who cannot afford to have an abstraction asserted that does not actually guarantee peace and security. And until Israel's enemies "know" what "everyone knows" and can "recite it in their sleep," it is more dangerous than useful to contemplate an American proposal.

[Eleutheria5]

Obama thinking about Afghanistan: Hmmm. Afghanistan might develop into a serious threat to my approval rating, whether I send more troops or withold them. I said during the campaign that I wanted a troop surge. But that’ll mean more soldiers to get killed, and it took forever just to find one family willing to photograph me with their son’s coffin. The more coffins, the less likely I’ll get photographed with them, because people will get really pissed. On the other hand, if I just leave the troops already there dangling, they might also start getting killed a lot. Could I claim that Afghanistan’s just another Vietnam? What to do...what to do...what to do...I know! If I declare war on Israel, that will defuse the entire situation. But no, America’s not ready for that yet. But I’ll rake Bibi’s battle-hardened paratrooper ass over the coals a bit, and that’ll gain me points abroad, which will put Afghanistan on hold for a while as the Taliban applauds my brilliance and lays off the American troops on the ground. Yeah. Sounds like a plan.