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While the US stumbles with Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, others are taking the lead

By Audrey Farber | Mondoweiss | December 8, 2010

Yesterday brought us the news that the Obama administration is giving up on pressuring Netanyahu on settlements.

Are they giving up, or are they just losing their edge? Apparently, “U.S. officials said they were not abandoning the peace effort altogether, just changing tactics.” Unfortunately, “it was not immediately clear what other proposals the Obama administration might put forward.” So is there something better up their sleeve? Such a change – after all, the American focus in Israel has been dedicated to settlement freezes for almost the entirety of Obama’s reign – could indicate its abdication of the role of mediator, the recognition of the futility of the “peace process”, and the first steps towards recognizing Palestine. Or more likely, it indicates that the Israeli government has a worse stranglehold on the US than we previously thought and ever dared dream. Obviously the Obama administration realizes the futility of the process, though it’s a shame they’re handing Netanyahu this victory on a silver platter.

This settlement freeze failure is making the US administration the laughing stock of Israel and Palestine alike. Ehud Barak claimed “talks with U.S. officials over a settlement freeze had stopped because Washington was distracted by the WikiLeaks controversy and its need to focus on the confrontation with North Korea.” You’d think they’d be able to multi-task, but I guess asking one small thing from Netanyahu on top of all these other concerns was just too much. From another side, aide to Abbas, Yasser Abed Rabbo, criticized this newfound weakness of the American role in negotiations. If the US is “the one who couldn’t make Israel limit its settlement activities in order to conduct serious negotiations, how can he be able to make Israel accept a fair solution?…This is the big question now.” The illusion of America’s role as team leader in this “peace process” has been shattered, and we see now that when it comes to Israel and Palestine, as far as the US is concerned, the Israelis will get what they want.

As this is just further proof that the Netanyahu-Lieberman military-industrial complex has us exactly where they want us and we’re a fairly useless ally for peace and justice, it’s time for someone else to step up to the plate and have a go at this perennial intractability. Indeed, both Israel and Palestine are prepared for this eventuality. Barak sees Barack’s withdrawal as putting Israel in “danger of becoming increasingly isolated internationally. Israel is concerned with the success of one Palestinian tactic: persuading countries to recognize an independent Palestinian state within borders that existed before the 1967 Middle East War.” … Full article

December 8, 2010 - Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite

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