There is bad news, my friends, and
good news. I am going to start with the bad because it is imperative that
it be noted. I don't want to leave this to the end of my
posting:
There are reports -- as yet
unconfirmed by the Obama administration or Kerry specifically -- that Martin
Indyk will be playing a "key role" in Israeli-Palestinian Arab
negotiations.
Credit:
MSNBC
And THAT is very bad
news.
Today's JPost alluded to
a tweet he put out:
"So Kerry did it. By George
he did it! Negotiations will resume forthwith. Now watch the
naysayers declare there'll never be an agreement."
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Basis-for-resumption-of-talks-still-shrouded-in-fog-320602
One gets the sense of what this
man is like from these few words. His political view lacks reality.
There is not a scintilla of humility regarding the difficulties of achieving
peace or the huge gaps between the parties that would need to be bridged.
No subtlety -- just "charge forward" arrogance. An arrogance that would
be/has been the underpinning for pressure on Israel without
compunction.
~~~~~~~~~~
Elsewhere in the JPost
today, I read reference to a comment made by Dennis Ross, who had been
Clinton's special envoy to the Middle East, and had observed that Arafat said
"no" at Camp David, "because fundamentally I do not believe he can end the
conflict. We had one critical clause in this agreement, and that clause
was, this is the end of the conflict. Everything he has done as
leader of the Palestinians is to always leave his options open...For him to end
the conflict was to end himself."
The point of the author of this
article was that Abbas may be like Arafat, and indeed this is most probably the
case. But I would make a different point here. Dennis Ross, as that
special envoy years ago, put enormous pressure on Israel to make
concessions. Once Ross left his position and began to write about how he
had seen Arafat as someone who would never make peace, he earned my eternal
enmity. To serve his goal -- making his boss happy, advancing his own
career, whatever it was -- he was ready to pressure Israel into untenable
positions.
And I firmly believe that Martin
Indyk is cut from precisely the same cloth. This spells Danger, with a capital
"D." Indyk's goal would be pleasing Kerry and Obama, showing the world
that an "agreement" is possible. (This is clear from that tweet.)
Israel's rights? Israel's security? Mere trifling
matters.
~~~~~~~~~~
Actually, it's even worse than
this. Indyk has espoused positions that are antithetical to Israel's
legitimate interests and rights for several years now:
At a Hebrew University lecture in
2004, he said:
"Israel has to realize that it will need to
make territorial...concessions and turn into a city-state: one large city from
the north to the south, with a big park in the north and one in the
south."
~~~~~~~~~~
That same year, as reported by the
JPost, Indyk said:
"If you want peace with Syria you have
to give them back the Golan Heights.
"If you do not want peace with Syria keep the
Golan Heights, but do not expect to have peace with Syria and do not expect them
to sit quietly and do nothing and not support
Hezbollah...
"Don't expect them to simply accept it,
because you wouldn't if you were them...It doesn't belong to Israel, it belongs
to Syria."
~~~~~~~~~~
And more:
When he had just assumed his position
as head of the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution (also in 2004 -- a
busy year for him), he "conducted a campaign to dispatch U.S. troops to
intervene in the Middle East conflict. Indyk has gone so far as to say that the
U.S. should sent troops or create a protectorate over the West Bank and
Gaza."
Protectorate? To protect the poor Palestinian
Arabs from Israel, of course.
~~~~~~~~~~
I could go on, and on. But I'll end with
a mention of the fact that Indyk has strong connections to the New Israel
Fund.
~~~~~~~~~~
We do not know if there will really be peace
negotiations (and I address this below). But this is no time to take
chances. A pro-active response is essential NOW, before there is a
chance for negotiations to begin. And this falls to American
citizens.
Please, without delay, contact
your elected members in Congress and protest that Indyk cannot be
an honest broker -- a neutral mediator -- in negotiations between Israel
and the Palestinian Authority. His appointment as
a negotiator in the Israel-PA talks would put Israel at an unfair
disadvantage.
For
your Congresspersons:
For
your Senators:
~~~~~~~~~~
I
will tell you here what I always say: Numbers count. Your doing
this matters. And it will be helpful if you share this broadly and ask
others to also act.
Communication
should be polite but firm. No speeches, no long histories. A few simple
facts and an expression of deep concern about the current situation.
~~~~~~~~~~
In
addition to your own elected representatives, messages, where possible, to the
following are also important:
The House Committee on Foreign AffairsPhone: (202)
225-5021Fax: (202) 226-7269
Ed Royce, Committee Chair
Phone: (202) 225-4111
Fax: (202) 226-0335
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chair, Subcommittee on the Middle East and
Africa
Phone: (202) 225-3931
Fax: (202) 225-5620
The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Robert Mendez, Chair
Phone: (202) 224-4651
Fax: (202) 228-3612
~~~~~~~~~~
Phone: (202) 225-3931
Fax: (202) 225-5620
The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Robert Mendez, Chair
Phone: (202) 224-4651
Fax: (202) 228-3612
~~~~~~~~~~
And
to spread the word further -- letters to the editor, op-eds, talk-backs on
websites, call-ins to radio talk shows. This may be the first of many
battles that will need to be fought in the coming weeks and months.
If
you are serious in your concern for Israel, please participate to the
maximum.
~~~~~~~~~~
And now as to the reasons why there may be no
negotiations:
Almost immediately after I
had posted yesterday, a number of articles showed up on the Internet
that seem to confirm the direction I had already taken
tentatively.
According to Elhanan Miller,
writing in Times of Israel (emphasis added):
"The Palestinian
leadership has not yet decided to return to negotiations with Israel and will
only do so if its basic demands are met...
"Yasser Abed Rabbo, one of only
two Palestinian officials authorized to comment on the negotiations with Israel
(along with PA presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh), told Palestinian
radio that the PA leadership was currently engaged in dialogue with the
American administration, and would only announce the resumption of negotiations
depending on the outcome of those talks.
"A number of issues were
still pending for talks between Israelis and Palestinians in Washington later in
the week, during which a framework for negotiations would be created,
he added.
"Abed Rabbo’s comments,
which directly contradict Secretary of State John Kerry’s announcement Friday of
Israeli and Palestinian agreement to resume talks, reflected an atmosphere of
deep Palestinian skepticism regarding the prospect of negotiations with
Israel. An op-ed Sunday in the official Palestinian daily
Al-Ayyam dubbed US Secretary of State John Kerry 'a master of self-deception'
claiming that both sides agreed to meet in Washington only to please the
American official, knowing that nothing of substance would come of the
talks."
~~~~~~~~~~
That Al-Ayyam op-ed seems to
confirm that my source, who had said yesterday that everyone realized Kerry
was an idiot, knew what he was speaking about. (Please forgive me, that I
have cited this a couple of times now. It gives me a certain perverse
pleasure to be able to remain professionally above the fray and quote someone
else on Kerry's capabilities.)
This also seems to confirm the
observation -- made by Danny Dayan and others -- that all that was
going to happen in Washington was "talk about talking." Not
negotiations.
It does appear that -- for
all of Kerry's fancy footwork in trying to reassure the PA without having
guarantees from Netanyahu -- in the end nothing but a commitment from Israeli
officials will do for Abbas. That is precisely what he has been saying for
some time now. Kerry just wasn't listening, or thought he could dance
around this.
~~~~~~~~~~
We see this reflected in yet
another article -- "Resumption of Peace Talks Not
Assured" by
"Disagreements that
blocked Israeli-Palestinian negotiations for the past five years have not been
fully resolved, despite US Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent announcement
of progress, and there’s no clear path to a resumption of
talks.
"Palestinian officials said
Sunday their key demand remains: Ahead of any talks, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu must accept Israel’s pre-1967 frontier as the starting point
for drawing the border of a future state of Palestine. They say Kerry’s
renewed endorsement of that frontier as a baseline in closed-door talks is not
enough, and that they need to hear from Netanyahu.
"It’s not clear if this amounts to
last-minute maneuvering or if the Palestinians will walk away if Netanyahu
refuses to accept that formula, as he has done repeatedly. On Sunday,
Netanyahu’s right-wing allies were adamant that Israel would not budge, and
Netanyahu appeared to be trying to lower expectations about any future
negotiations...
"...two Palestinian
officials and two senior PLO figures — speaking on condition of
anonymity because they wanted to avoid running afoul of Abbas’s edict [not to
talk] — said a resumption of talks is not a done deal.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are to meet in Washington in coming
days or weeks, but they’ll have to hold more talks about the talks,
just as Kerry did in six shuttle missions this year because gaps remain, the
Palestinian officials said."
~~~~~~~~~~
I laughed when I read in the above
article that Abbas "is skeptical of Netanyahu’s willingness to negotiate in
good faith." For he is totally devoid of good faith in diplomatic
relations. An easy out for him: "Me? I want so much to move ahead.
And I would proceed, but hesitate to do so because of my doubts about the other
side. Sorry."
Fact is, however, that here we
face reality. What Abbas is demanding of Israel is something he knows that
Israel will not and cannot concede to. That's not "lack of good faith" on
Israel's part, but rather taking an appropriate stand. As Abbas
cannot and will not demand less, there's nothing to talk
about. Negotiations between the parties that have a real prospect of
succeeding are impossible.
Avigdor Lieberman (chair, Yisrael
Beitenu and head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee) has it
right when he says it's time to admit that there is no solution to the
Arab-Israeli conflict. It can only be managed, and it's important to do
that.
He believes that
negotiations -- conducted in a spirit of reality, not
illusion -- can be helpful in managing the conflict.
~~~~~~~~~~
And today we have more of the same
from an ever-widening circle of media sources. The lead paragraph in the
main story on the front page of the JPost this morning
read:
"Two days after US Secretary of
State John Kerry, standing alone in Amman [with neither representatives of
Israel nor of the PA joining him], announced the resumption of
Israeli-Palestinian talks, Palestinian Authority officials began again raising
preconditions for the talks. Meanwhile, Israeli officials continue to
insist Jerusalem made no commitments regarding the 1967 lines or a settlement
freeze."
At the Cabinet meeting yesterday,
Netanyahu declared that the Palestinian Arabs would have to make concessions
during negotiations to ensure Israel's security and protect her vital
interests.
~~~~~~~~~~
I could go on, quoting Reuters,
for example, which has now added this piece of information:
"...In another setback to the
negotiators' meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned first to
seek cabinet-level approval for the prospective new talks, which were announced
by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/22/us-palestinians-israel-idUSBRE96K03H20130722
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/22/us-palestinians-israel-idUSBRE96K03H20130722
~~~~~~~~~~
So much for Indyk's "By George he
did it!" Not quite.
So precisely what has been going
on? All the astonishment, the hullabaloo, the rush of anxiety. I
kept wondering in the beginning what I was missing. What was it Kerry did to get
Abbas to agree to come to the table? Did he possess some sort of
magic?
Herb Keinon ("Wanting it more than
the parties themselves," cited above), has it right:
Keinon cites Obama, who said: "The
United States will put our full weight behind this effort...We will support
those who make difficult choices in pursuit of peace. But let me be very clear.
Ultimately the United States cannot impose a solution, and we cannot want it
more than the parties themselves."
This, writes Keinon, "ran like a
motif through both the Clinton and Bush administrations: the idea that -- try as
it may -- the US can't want a peace deal more than the parties.
"US Secretary of State John Kerry,
apparently, does not believe this. Here is a man who will not take
no for an answer."
~~~~~~~~~~
Ah...
Kerry has made
countless trips to the Middle East. He has undoubtedly wheedled and cajoled
and threatened and bribed. Who knows what else. Because he was convinced
that he saw light at the end of the tunnel and that with enough energy he could
make it happen.
At last, the parties said, "All
right! All right! Enough already. We'll come to Washington and have talks about
the talks."
And Kerry jumped the gun and
announced this with a tone that suggested a great deal more had been
achieved. We shouldn't be surprised, then, that it all began to unravel
very quickly.
~~~~~~~~~~
I would never say -- given Kerry's
persistence -- that it is certain that there will be no negotiations.
Unlikely, but who knows. What I can say with certainty is that Kerry's way of
going about it will not yield success, even if the parties should, briefly, sit
together at the table.
~~~~~~~~~~
I do believe that John Kerry is
potentially a dangerous man. Because he is not in touch with reality, but
persists in attempting to mold facts to fit his image of what should
be.
And it should come as no surprise
to us that he would choose another dangerous man -- Martin Indyk, who is of like
mind -- to work with him on the "negotiations."
It will not be time to breath easy
until the Washington meeting has been cancelled, or until it has been held
without resulting in an agreement to negotiate.
~~~~~~~~~~
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Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner,
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