Experts wonder whether U.S. has a real Israel strategy or 'talking points'

WP ^ | 03/20/10 | Glenn Kessler

[TigerLikesRooster]

Experts wonder whether U.S. has a real Israel strategy or 'talking points'

By Glenn Kessler

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, March 20, 2010; A06

The Obama administration signaled Friday that its 10-day spat with Israel may be nearing an end, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton declaring to the BBC that the confrontation "is paying off" and would lead to a resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

But as the dust from the diplomatic tussle settles, some analysts are questioning what the administration actually gained from it -- and whether U.S. officials have a strategy to achieve their goals.

Clinton, speaking to reporters in Moscow after a meeting with Mideast mediators, said that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday had offered "useful and productive" ideas for getting the peace process back on track. It appears, however, that those proposals will fall short of the demands Clinton listed in a tense phone call on March 12, after Israel announced new housing units in a disputed part of Jerusalem during Vice President Biden's goodwill visit.

Sources suggested that the bulk of Netanyahu's suggestions concerned possible gestures to the Palestinians, with some vague discussion of a "mechanism" to ensure that housing construction in East Jerusalem does not cause further controversy.

[aquila48]

These “experts” are extremely dense if they haven’t figured that one out yet.

[sinanju]

I can’t help it, I’m starting to believe the rumors that the Obama regime planned this spat some time in advance and merely took advantage of the construction announcement as its casus belli in the hopes of arm-twisting Netanyahu.

Just like Arafat and Sharon’s walking tour.

[kittykat77]

The US has had the same “Israel strategy” for decades. We underwrite their defense expenditures (now at the rate of $3 billion a year). Everything else is just soap opera — two state, one state, no state, Jerusalem as an international zone, new settlements, no settlements, yada yada yada. All that stuff doesn’t matter.

All that matters is that he US pays for Israel’s defense, pretty much matching Israel’s entire GDP. End of story.

[Brad from Tennessee]

I think you're correct. Obama refuses to step foot inside Israel. Sending Biden was a provocation because the White House has used him in the past to rhetorically scold Netanyahu. The political theater the White House gets away with at home doesn't work on people living in a state of war for 63 years.

[rae4palin]

Here's something the "experts" haven't considered:

Zechariah 12:3b ...I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. [emphasis added]

Obama (and, unfortunately, America) is going to be severely injured. Excellent explanation of this from Hal Lindsey starting at the 18 minute mark:

http://www.hallindsey.com/videos/?vid=120

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

What’s being gained from this, gradually, drop by drop, is the annihilation of Israel. If one has to ask, it’s working.
0bama’s reaction was based on the unstated assumption (and he wants to keep it unstated and invisible) that there is something illegitimate about Jewish presence in Jerusalem. Once this idea is firmly invisible and no one is asking why, anymore — we move on to the next target. (Remember Gaza? No? Good, you’re not supposed to remember!)
The whole “two-state solution” is just a strategy for getting to one state, and that would not be Israel.
The field will be taken, hill by hill, yard by yard, in people’s heads, not just under their feet.
Today it’s ok that palis are rioting and some poor fellow was killed by a rocket, but it is NOT ok that Jews build in some particular part of Jerusalem. It’s a horrid insult, don’t you know? It’s endangering American troops somewhere! It’s to be condemned! Those Jews can’t live there!
Tomorrow there’ll be another neighborhood in Israel where Jews are unthinkable.
And then another, until they’re unthinkable altogether.
Jews are not just retreating from their land, they’re retreating from their right to exist.
When the last Jew is perched on the last postage stamp still called Israeli territory, somebody will be in his face, screeching in moral outrage that he is stepping on some palestinian’s toe.
It’s the Jewish legitimacy, the Jewish validity, that must be eradicated. To the extent that the Jews surrender the idea, they meekly board the cattle cars again.

[freekitty]

Look at how Obama treats Britain. Something is odd about that. Maybe because they are ahead of him regarding destroying their country and they have more Muslims.

[KhanKrum13]

O hates Isreal. And he loves the PLO, Hamas, etc. He has a Eurovision on this thing-Jews bad Arabs good. Truly disgusts me that he is abandoning one of our best allies & the only democracy in the Middle East. Turkey doesn’t qualify, sorry!

[PIF]

Just like the US pays even more for Egypt’s defense.

[Diogenesis]

“America’s Shiny New Palestinian Militia
No matter how events play out, this story ends with U.S.-trained soldiers pointing their guns at Israel.
‘The stupidest program the U.S. government has ever undertaken” — last year that’s
what I called American efforts to improve the Palestinian Authority (PA) military force.
Slightly hyperbolic, yes, but the description fits because those efforts enhance the
fighting power of enemies of the United States and its Israeli ally.

First, a primer about the program, drawing on a recent Center for Near East Policy
Research study by David Bedein and Arlene Kushner: Shortly after Yasir Arafat died in
late 2004, the U.S. government established the Office of the U.S. Security Coordinator to
reform, recruit, train, and equip the PA militia (called the National Security Forces or
Quwwat al-Amn al-Watani) and make them politically accountable. For nearly all of its
existence, the office has been headed by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton. Since 2007, American
taxpayers have funded it to the tune of $100 million a year. Many agencies of the U.S.
government have been involved in the program, including the State Department’s Bureau
of Diplomatic Security, the Secret Service, and branches of the military.”

[kittykat77]

And that’s our “Egypt strategy.” We have a lot of such strategies around the globe.

[PIF]

“And that’s our “Egypt strategy.” We have a lot of such strategies around the globe.”

All of which are rapidly being cancled or turned upside down...