by Boaz Bismuth
Let us imagine for a
moment a military confrontation between the United States and Mexico,
God forbid, wherein (the late) Hugo Chavez's Venezuela and Cuba were
asked to mediate. Does anybody really think Washington would be prepared
to accept such hostile mediators, with whom it does not even speak? We
can assume Washington would toss the idea out, and not very politely,
either.
It appears, however,
that Washington currently expects Israel to accept such a nonsensical
condition. Secretary of State John Kerry issued a proposal on Friday,
which while written in English appeared to be translated from a certain
Qatari dialect. Kerry's proposal was archeological: It promised the
renovation of Gaza, and also the preservation of the underground
tunnels. It should perhaps be explained to the Americans that while
Masada is part of our tradition, no one here is actually interested in
committing suicide anymore.
In fact, the cabinet's
unanimous rejection of the Kerry proposal did not lead him to conclude
something was wrong, and at a special summit of foreign ministers in
Paris on Saturday he surrounded himself by six of his colleagues, among
them two Hamas advocates: Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid Attiyah and
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. One day someone needs to
closely examine why the Obama administration continues to fantasize
about all things pertaining to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The summit of foreign
ministers in Paris was not interesting because of who was there, rather
because of who was not, or to put it more accurately, who was not
invited. Only the Obama administration can organize a summit devoid of
the relevant players, which are Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian
Authority.
It is perplexing why
Washington is failing to exploit this rare consensus between Egypt and
Israel, along with the PA and Saudi Arabia, to formulate a cease-fire
agreement, and is instead turning to the Qataris. Could it be that
President Barack Obama thinks Egypt is not as democratic as it was
during the Morsi era? Could it be that Washington believes Qatar is
actually democratic? It is truly sad that Washington is so enthralled
with Qatar, which is nothing more than a gas bubble with a voice in the
United Nations. They get the sense that the tiny Gulf emirate is a
rising power, not to mention it is sitting on mountains of cash. And
most importantly, since the Arab Spring, throughout which Obama
perpetually erred, Qatar is perceived as a channel through which to
access authentic Islam.
We are witnessing a
grave strategic error by the Americans, who are succeeding in
infuriating serious and strong allies like Israel, Egypt and Saudi
Arabia in favor of a deception in the form of Qatar and Turkey, which
has managed to quarrel with all of its neighbors. Apropos Turkey: Is
it possible it has resolved all of its problems in Cyprus and only Kerry
knows about it?
Kerry required a few
hours on Saturday to realize that Washington will not reach the quiet it
desires without adjusting its position. Even without distancing itself
from Qatar, it must move closer to Egypt. From Israel's perspective, it
is clear that any cease-fire agreement must allow it to continue dealing
with the tunnel threat.
In the meantime, the
images disseminated throughout Europe are hard to digest, and the
governments which gave us the freedom to maneuver know that the people
in the streets are offering us zero leeway. The world has had a
difficult weekend: In Libya, the Americans evacuated their embassy
because the country is disintegrating; in Ukraine, it is unclear how the
conflict with Russia will unfold; in Iraq, the Islamic State group
(formerly, ISIS) is continuing its onslaught; in Syria, not a day goes
by without adding more beheaded corpses to the death toll. However, it
remains so easy to gang up on Israel, of all countries, which is waging a
just campaign of self-defense, while allowing the other conflagrations
to spread out of control.
In his sixth year in office,
Obama continues to suffer from his lack of experience. How many times
already can one support the wrong side and still think the
Americans have it right?
Boaz Bismuth
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=9325
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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