Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
Thomas Friedman has a suggestion for us as to how we can move the Israeli-Palestinian peace process forward.
May I suggest a Tahrir Square alternative? Announce that every Friday from today forward will be “Peace Day,” and have thousands of West Bank Palestinians march nonviolently to Jerusalem, carrying two things — an olive branch in one hand and a sign in Hebrew and Arabic in the other. The sign should say: “Two states for two peoples. We, the Palestinian people, offer the Jewish people a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders — with mutually agreed adjustments — including Jerusalem, where the Arabs will control their neighborhoods and the Jews theirs.”
If Palestinians peacefully march to Jerusalem by the thousands every Friday with a clear peace message, it would become a global news event. Every network in the world would be there. Trust me, it would stimulate a real peace debate within Israel — especially if Palestinians invited youth delegations from around the Arab world to join the marches, carrying the Saudi peace initiative in Hebrew and Arabic. Israeli Jews and Arabs should be invited to march as well. Together, the marchers could draw up their own peace maps and upload them onto YouTube as a way of telling their leaders what Egyptian youth said to President Hosni Mubarak: “We’re not going to let you waste another day of our lives with your tired mantras and maneuvering.”
I met Tom Friedman briefly years ago at Oxford when he came to deliver a lecture at St. Antony's College. I was a fan of his book From Beirut to Jerusalem and found much to admire in Friedman too -- he was coherent, down-to-earth, and able to craft complex ideas in engaging, digestible terms. In those days, I found myself agreeing with him more often than not.
We've since parted ideological company for the most part, but this piece really has me worried.
Tom (may I call you Tom?), are you for real here? You're a reputable journalist. Have you kept up to date at all with events in Egypt since Tahrir Square? For that matter, how closely were you paying attention during Tahrir Square? Are you certain you want to use it as a model?
This idea of yours about regular marches of thousands of Palestinians to Jerusalem, complete with Arab "delegations" from hither and yon. As it happens, we had a delegation visit recently. They stormed the Israeli-Syrian border fence. That was -- how can I put it? -- disconcerting. Are you aware of the recurrent, and ever-popular, campaigns on Facebook to enlist Muslims across the Arab world to descend on Israel and destroy it? Do you have any credible reason to believe most Arabs would hear a Palestinian call for a march on Jerusalem as an opportunity to promote the two-state solution rather than a step toward reversing the Naqba?
And what about the Palestinians themselves? Did you miss the news of Fatah's reconciliation with Hamas? How does that not warrant a mention? Is it irrelevant? Why? The Palestinians you advise to march on Jerusalem are now re-allied with no-holds-barred jihadists. Are you picturing Khaled Mashaal holding an olive branch and hoisting one of those hefty signs?
And what about the Israelis? You note with some justice that "whichever party has the Israeli silent majority on its side wins," but then you lose me. Why should the spectacle of Palestinians marching en masse on Jerusalem -- in the current environment, with their allegedly pro-peace camp electing to scupper negotiations completely and declare statehood unilaterally, Israel be damned -- promote Israeli sympathy for Palestinian self-determination rather than a defensive crouch?
Tom, it's difficult for me to believe that you, with your deep knowledge of the region, can seriously believe this scenario will play out as you describe. But the alternative is worse: that you know full well how wrong it can go, and you're okay with that. I don't know you, so I can't say one way or the other. All I do know is you've got a big audience. Do me a favor and be careful what you wish for on behalf of a country you don't live in. Israelis and Palestinians don't exist inside an op-ed schmoozefest. We're cheek by jowl in a tinderbox. And whether you know it or not, you're playing with fire.
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Jan '11
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
The ultimate "What Could Go Wrong?"
Apr '11
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
I get the feeling that Thomas Friedman and President Obama share the same character flaw. They both believe that because many people have massaged their egos and told them they are the smartest men in any room that they are in fact so. Fortunately Mr. Friedman afflicts only his readers.
May '10
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
Yikes! That was before you developed a taste for good writing, one hopes, Judith. Line up one of his columns next to say, a post by Dave Carter. Not within hailing distance. Friedman's columns read like Onion articles or Iowahawk Special Guest posts. Unintentionally.
I shudder to imagine what's on your nightstand. Though hoping it's the Road to Fatima Gate* available now at Encounter Books.
Thing with Friedman is, he's Jay Nordlinger without the grounding in reality or the challenge to his beliefs. He goes from one international Sofitel conference to another, and nods sagely at people who also go from one international Sofitel conference to another.
*One of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby's worst films, which is saying something
Aug '10
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
Forget it Judith, It's Chinatown.
May '10
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
What Michael Watson said. The poor man has obviously internalized the hagiographical buncombe with which he is routinely introduced.
Sep '10
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
Friedman must believe that there are throngs of peace-loving, two-state–supporting Palestinians whose desires have been frustrated for years and years by ... anyone but themselves.
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
It is!! As is Lee Smith's The Strong Horse: Power, Politics and the Clash of Arab Civilizations. Both highly recommended. (There's also Kingley Amis's Everyday Drinking, a couple of collections of British mystery stories and a collection of crossword puzzles with movie themes. And a Wodehouse. I don't go anywhere without a Wodehouse, including to sleep.)
Mar '11
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
If you call being a Liberal "Progressive" a character flaw, yes!
As we discussed recently with Mr Obama, this delusion is par for the course for Liberals. It's similar to their delusion on China, or their delusional world view, in general...
Incidentally, there is a great piece by Stanley Kurtz in NRO on how Mr Obama got to his delusional position. Not sure how Mr Friedman got there.
btw, Judith, I'm glad your time at Oxford influenced your reading tastes :-)
Edited on May 26, 2011 at 3:46pmAug '10
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
At least he doesn't suggest the Jews try a similar exercise in Gaza City!
Jul '10
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
The sign should say: “Two states for two peoples. We, the Palestinian people, offer the Jewish people a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders — with mutually agreed adjustments — including Jerusalem, where the Arabs will control their neighborhoods and the Jews theirs.”
Pithy as ever, Tom.
I'm sure those "mutually agreed adjustments" will be along any day now.
Nov '10
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
Judith Levy
It is!! As is Lee Smith's The Strong Horse: Power, Politics and the Clash of Arab Civilizations. Both highly recommended. (There's also Kingley Amis's Everyday Drinking, a couple of collections of British mystery stories and a collection of crossword puzzles with movie themes. And a Wodehouse. I don't go anywhere without a Wodehouse, including to sleep.) · May 26 at 3:33pmFriedman
Add Alan Furst's and Charles McCarry's novels (all are wonderful; you cannot go wrong with any).
Mr. Friedman's writings have never made good sense to me. Mayhap it is because I did not read anything he wrote in his "lucid" period.
May '10
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
I see a Facebook page! And tweets!
Jul '10
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
Yes, Tom, because the whole problem is that no one has explained the concept of non-violent social dialogue to the Palestinians.
That's the trouble with liberals - they think the whole world is a freshman critical-studies seminar.
May '10
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
Judith Levy
It is!! As is Lee Smith's The Strong Horse: Power, Politics and the Clash of Arab Civilizations. Both highly recommended. (There's also Kingley Amis's Everyday Drinking, a couple of collections of British mystery stories and a collection of crossword puzzles with movie themes. And a Wodehouse. I don't go anywhere without a Wodehouse, including to sleep.) · May 26 at 3:33pm
See, now this is solid. Can't pick on any of this. Dammit.
PS re Wodehouse-inspired murder mysteries (not uncommon), check out Sarah Caudwell, the Nero Wolfe novels of Rex Stout (Wodehouse and he were John Derbyshire's neighbors on Long Island), and the Archy McNally novels of Lawrence Sanders, set in Palm Beach.
Edited on May 26, 2011 at 5:10pmMar '11
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
Freidman has made the Middle East his specialty, but as far as I can tell he’s never seen anything big coming. He was a supporter of the Oslo peace initiative long after Arafat gave Palestinian school children history books that literally wiped Israel off the map. The Palestinian media was completely under his control and its organs promoted jihad and martyrdom. These are not the actions of someone preparing his people for the compromises that peace entails.
Still Freidman wrote columns in which he expressed his puzzlement that Arafat never accepted Ehud Barak’s foolishly generous offer to divide Jerusalem and give Arafat control of virtually all West Bank. Friedman believed Arafat to genuinely want peace because that’s what this man with decades of blood on his hands told English-speaking audiences. Both intifadas caught Friedman by surprise.
When some Saudi prince told him that he had a peace plan in his desk drawer, Thomas was anything but doubting. He heralded this breathlessly as an historic breakthrough.
To the New York Times and many of its readers, all it takes to make a foreign correspondent is a wrinkled trench coat and a well-stamped passport.
Edited on May 26, 2011 at 9:40pmFeb '11
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
Which of the following would be least troubling? Pick one.
A. Obama bases U.S. Middle East policy on Friedman's analysis.
B. Qaddafi crafts a Middle East policy based on his reading of Friedman.
C. Middle East studies in the U.S. goes so far to the left that it comes to regard Friedman as a Neocon.
D. The Borg are real and they're headed this way.
---------------------------------------
In that...
A is true (http://t.co/CXXCHVk), and
B is true (wikileaks cable 08TRIPOLI833), and
C is true (as every schoolboy knows),
I'm going with D.
Apr '11
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
I look forward to more of Friedman's new articles for The Onion. Is this the first or did I miss some?
Dec '10
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
No one, with the possible exception of Paul Krugman, has been more wrong about more things over the past 20 years than Thomas Friedman. He deserves no credibility and no respect what-so-ever. Thousands of people have died because fantasies like his, and thousands more will die if anyone takes this clown's views seriously.
Aug '10
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
Since protests and demonstrations are the favored tools of the Left, an awful lot of Leftists have come to assume that whenever anyone is protesting and demonstrating, or committing acts of civil disobedience, they are automatically the good guys. (That's why Operation Rescue, one of the few exceptions to the rule above, makes their heads explode.)
So what would happen if Israelis took to the streets, carrying olive branches and signs saying "The West Bank is Israel." Or "Jerusalem is the capitol of Israel." Or even just "Leave us alone." Obviously, Friedman would favor the Palestinian protestors over the Israeli ones, and I'd favor the Israelis. If he could bring himself to imagine that scenario, he'd have to question the idea that his favored protest would automatically sway people his way.
But in real life, such things tend not to happen, because non-Leftists tend not to like protesting. So the Left's idea of the self-evident virtue of protest and demonstration survives unscathed.
Also, by the way, I doubt it would be easy to organize a peaceful protest of Palestinians, without some Hamas troublemakers infiltrating the event.
May '11
Re: Tom Friedman Goes Full Delusional
I can see Friedman's plan working. All it would take is some money, some coordination... some lights, trance music, and a few hundred tons of ecstasy tablets dissolved into the water supply. Couldn't end up any worse than anything else we've tried over the years.