Can Obama Achieve a Quickie Mideast Peace?
Direct Israel-Palestine peace talks begin today, hosted by President Barack Obama at the White House. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas both join Obama to commence what will be the ninth round of U.S.-led Israel-Palestine peace talks over 31 years. Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak will also be present. The process begins inauspiciously, with Palestinian group Hamas claiming the murders of four Israeli civilians, one of whom was pregnant, and Israeli settlers continuing the construction of West Bank settlements despite a U.S.-backed settlement freeze. -- The Atlantic Wire
the murders of the four Jewish settlers near Hebron have unleashed a wave of anger and calls for revenge, with Mr Netanyahu vowing to hunt down the killers. [...] "The message should go out to Hamas and everybody else who is taking credit for these heinous crimes, that this is not going to stop us from not only ensuring a secure Israel but also securing a longer lasting peace," Mr Obama said. -- ABC
Mideast peace talks have become a Sisyphean ritual. Talking about Mideast peace talks? But here we are again, and sure enough -- something must be said, because the interminable situation (large numbers of people want Israel destroyed) is new all over again, in some characteristically ugly way, every time. So here. How can Mideast talks even go on as if Iran does not exist? I suppose there's something tremendously powerful to the idea that they could -- reaching some kind of durable settlement that excluded Iran could lay the groundwork for what could be a tacit agreement among the world's greater powers that Iran will eventually be bombed one way or the other.
But is there any indication at all that Team Obama can make this happen? Even the wire reports convey the problem:
The summit marks Obama's riskiest plunge into Middle East diplomacy, not least because he wants the two sides to forge a deal within 12 months, a target many analysts call a long shot. He is staking precious political capital on the peace drive in a U.S. congressional election year.
There is also the danger that failure on this front could set back Obama's faltering attempts at winning over the Muslim world as he seeks solidarity against Iran.
Reaching an understanding among great powers is important to dealing with Iran, but lining up the Arab world is of huge importance. I understand the desire to accomplish this by hammering out a peace deal -- if that's the horse that's pulling this particular cart. But am I confident? Sadly, no!
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Jul '10
Re: Can Obama Achieve a Quickie Mideast Peace?
James Poulos, Ed.
Mr. Poulos, you are right about the timetable being far too short. What makes Obama think he can achieve what other US President's could not in decades, and in an impossibly short time frame?
Regarding the quoted section, Obama's attempts at winning the Muslim world have failed, not because of his lack of trying, but because the Muslim world's problem is not with him personally. The Muslim world's problem with the US is beyond my limited sphere of understanding, but Obama's ability to woo Americans with his articulate speech, mainstream media backing and multi-cultural heritage simply does not work outside the developed world (Europeans and Japanese are still in love with him).
May '10
Re: Can Obama Achieve a Quickie Mideast Peace?
What good is a mediator who can't be trusted?
May '10
Re: Can Obama Achieve a Quickie Mideast Peace?
If I had to guess, President Obama's thought process on jumping into these dicey waters with a self-imposed 12 month deadline is:
...With the possibility, of course, that (3) is actually the first item that springs to his mind.
Jul '10
Re: Can Obama Achieve a Quickie Mideast Peace?
Peace happens when people want peace.
When the Arabs dream about peace with Israel, they're not dreaming of Belgium or Canada.
They're dreaming of Carthage. Or Dresden.
May '10
Re: Can Obama Achieve a Quickie Mideast Peace?
Now that I really think about it, of course Obama is directing peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. Every U.S. President has to, now. Right? A President who skipped that tradition would be raked over the coals eventually (nevermind that Arafat rejected the offer he himself proposed and Abbas is beholden to thugs).
Aug '10
Re: Can Obama Achieve a Quickie Mideast Peace?
I'm tired of peace plans. How about victory plans for a change?
Jul '10
Re: Can Obama Achieve a Quickie Mideast Peace?
Good point.
Perhaps rather than being the world's policeman, we should be the world's bartender:
"Hey, you two guys take that outside!"
Jul '10
Re: Can Obama Achieve a Quickie Mideast Peace?
Well, look how well he did closing Guantanamo within 12 months.
Aug '10
Re: Can Obama Achieve a Quickie Mideast Peace?
This crooked and transparent farce insults the intelligence of everyone of a certain age. Does anybody remember the Camp David Summit of 2000 when Clinton, Barack of Israel, and Arafat of the so-called Palestinians hammered out an agreement? Clinton begged and pleaded with Arafat to sign. The Israelis gave Arafat 95% of everything he and his people ever asked for, but Arafat rejected it.
He and the Palestinians have a fabulous cash cow and world sympathy racket going, and they'll lose it if tensions end. We spend almost a billion dollars a year on them, and the world pours in even more. Arafat had well over a billion dollars in a Swiss bank account when he died.
Arafat knew that the minute he signed such an agreement he would be a dead man. His fellow Arabs would assassinate him just as they did Anwar Sadat of Egypt after he signed the peace agreement with Israel. The Palestinian issue is a valuable gambit for our enemies in the chess game of world power.
May '10
Re: Can Obama Achieve a Quickie Mideast Peace?
Every new administration lays out the same goal- two states, side by side. Logical and reasonable.
This doesn't work because one player still will not accept the existence of the others. Hamas, the most important party right now, is not there because their goal is not peace, it is annihilation.
If anyone believes that the four murders by Hamas were an accident of timing rather than a clear message about the futility of the "process", I have some prime resort land in Gaza I'd like to sell you.
The only way to resolve this is the one that no one would attempt: a multinational force of non-Israelis (including Egypt and UAE) invades Gaza and for the next five years does exactly what Petraeus did in Iraq. Put Salam Fayyad in charge and provide him with 24 hour bodyguards.
Jun '10
Re: Can Obama Achieve a Quickie Mideast Peace?
Somehow I don't see Netanyahu helping out Obama politically by agreeing to something fast.
And, of course, we have sixty-two years of actual history that suggests that this may be the single most insoluble problem on the globe.
Re: Can Obama Achieve a Quickie Mideast Peace?
tabula rasa: Somehow I don't see Netanyahu helping out Obama politically by agreeing to something fast.
And, of course, we have sixty-two years of actual history that suggests that this may be the single most insoluble problem on the globe. · Sep 2 at 9:51am
It's true, tabula, that Netanyahu holds the cards. The Economist seems to think he's actually willing to go back to square Clinton.