The United States, and for that matter President Obama can do little over the Palestinian desire for Statehood. The US is caught in a dilemma over Palestinian aspirations and Israeli intransigence. The former needs to be actualized and would be in keeping with US position - a Palestinian State. The latter is driven by Israeli insecurity, a Zionist desire to expand the "Jewish" State, and the presence of Hamas, Hezbollah, and their backers - Iran and Syria.
This last dynamic has been weakened by recent Arab upheavals. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abass has been cooperative with the US, but is now in a position to demand more. The Israelis internally has always been the major dynamic in the Middle East peace process - not the US, not the UN, not Russia or the EU.
The US, because of historical, philosophical and strategic reasons, cannot move until Israel does.
With an Iran of the Shah and a west-leaning Turkey things were a lot easier.
The surge of grass- roots democracy will certainly help, as no Arab country is in a position to use the military option, including Persian Iran. The Israelis want a continuous state of war as it is the only one in the region with the capability to wage war. That is the sad state of today's Middle East.
Personal attacks I see from the political Right on Obama or the US miss the point. There is nothing to talk about Obama her in the context of the Middle East peace process. The counter to the Israelis is not the US. It has to be the Arabs themselves. The fractured Arab tribes who dominate governmental politics in all the key Arab States are not so pro-Palestinian as most people believe. The Iranians are the worst Judas of the lot. At least the Jordanians make their position clear.
Obama is doing the one thing that is smart, not sexy and not obvious (like his education and energy initiatives (and BTW read Tom Friedman’s new book “That used to be us”). Obama is building Arab democracies, and I cannot emphasize enough his 2009 Cairo speech that was a prelude to the Tunisian market vendor who lit himself and the Arab dictators alike. When the Arabs are democratically strong the Israelis will be forced to abandon the Zionist approach of settlements and no peace. Obama is not late to anything or leading anything from behind – as the Right would have us believe. He is smart enough to know that there is little America would do to the Israelis, and nothing much it can do given its strategic interests in that part of the world.
This last dynamic has been weakened by recent Arab upheavals. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abass has been cooperative with the US, but is now in a position to demand more. The Israelis internally has always been the major dynamic in the Middle East peace process - not the US, not the UN, not Russia or the EU.
The US, because of historical, philosophical and strategic reasons, cannot move until Israel does.
With an Iran of the Shah and a west-leaning Turkey things were a lot easier.
The surge of grass- roots democracy will certainly help, as no Arab country is in a position to use the military option, including Persian Iran. The Israelis want a continuous state of war as it is the only one in the region with the capability to wage war. That is the sad state of today's Middle East.
Personal attacks I see from the political Right on Obama or the US miss the point. There is nothing to talk about Obama her in the context of the Middle East peace process. The counter to the Israelis is not the US. It has to be the Arabs themselves. The fractured Arab tribes who dominate governmental politics in all the key Arab States are not so pro-Palestinian as most people believe. The Iranians are the worst Judas of the lot. At least the Jordanians make their position clear.
Obama is doing the one thing that is smart, not sexy and not obvious (like his education and energy initiatives (and BTW read Tom Friedman’s new book “That used to be us”). Obama is building Arab democracies, and I cannot emphasize enough his 2009 Cairo speech that was a prelude to the Tunisian market vendor who lit himself and the Arab dictators alike. When the Arabs are democratically strong the Israelis will be forced to abandon the Zionist approach of settlements and no peace. Obama is not late to anything or leading anything from behind – as the Right would have us believe. He is smart enough to know that there is little America would do to the Israelis, and nothing much it can do given its strategic interests in that part of the world.
