by Elliott Abrams
There must be something
in the water at the State Department that leads successive secretaries
of state to decide, seemingly on their first day there, that now is the
time for a big new push at a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace
agreement.
Here we go again. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz:
"U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry intends to place the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the center of his diplomatic activities
and to strive to achieve a breakthrough agreement between the two sides
during President Obama’s second term in office, according to the
assessment of well-placed sources in Washington and New York."
Why? The article
continues: "Nonetheless, the overall impression left by the discussions
conducted in recent weeks by Kerry and his advisers with European,
Israeli and Arab officials, as well as American Jewish leaders, is that
the former Massachusetts senator is 'determined to the point of
obsession,' as one skeptical interlocutor put it, to change the tone and
direction of relations between Israel and the Palestinians during his
term as secretary of state. 'He sees it as the holy mission of his
life,' the source said. Kerry is convinced that his years of experience
with the region and his deep personal relationships with many of its
main protagonists, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, place him in a
unique position to succeed where his predecessors have failed and to
bring about not only a resumption of talks but a long-term agreement as
well."
Lest it be thought that this is the take solely of one Israeli newspaper, here is the Los Angeles Times' experienced correspondent Paul Richter:
"As Kerry heads off Sunday on his debut trip as secretary of state to
nine nations in Europe and the Middle East, his blunt exchange with
Assad offers insight on his determination to use whatever it takes —
even insults — to help resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, his personal
passion. Kerry has made it clear he wants to restart Israeli-Palestinian
peace talks, a long and sporadic process whose latest collapse occurred
during Obama’s first term. He is well aware that failed attempts
tarnished the reputations of elder statesmen and presidents for decades,
including Obama. He is not deterred."
Oh, boy.
Two things strike me
about these reports. First, our new secretary of state does not appear
to be operating from any new assessment of the situation received from
State Department or other U.S. experts, nor from Israelis or
Palestinians. He is entering the office certain of what can be achieved
and certain he is the man to achieve it. This is not the best way to
make policy.
Second, he seems
unaware of, or anyway undeterred by, the risks and downsides. Raising
hopes that are later dashed, opening negotiations that sadly go nowhere,
holding ceremonial openings that never lead to tangible achievements —
all of these undermine faith on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides
that peace is achievable. American failures of any sort have the same
effect, on those parties and others in the region. Moreover, the
insistent (obsessive?) focus on breakthroughs and huge achievements
leads too often to ignoring more practical, shorter-range, and
achievable agreements that are sometimes derided as "small ball." Better
small ball than the swing for the fences that, time after time, ends
the inning in a strikeout.
From Pressure Points by Elliott Abrams. Reprinted with permission from the Council on Foreign Relations.
Elliott Abrams is a senior fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. This piece is reprinted with permission and can be found on Abrams' blog Pressure Points here.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3543
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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