by Yoram Ettinger
The reliability of Kerry's policy assessments and recommendations should be appraised within the context of his track record.
U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry's Nov. 24 visit to Jerusalem confirmed his determination to
reinvent "the energetic, youthful and forward-looking Middle East" in
accordance with his own worldview, irrespective of the reality in the
region. Kerry recycles well-intentioned, but failed, assessments and
tactics, further eroding the U.S.'s posture of deterrence and its power
projection among pro-U.S. Arab countries.
On Oct. 28, Kerry
presented his vision of U.S. policy in the Middle East, convinced that
peaceful coexistence can surmount the inherently complex, anti-American,
14-century-old violent and intolerant Islamic Middle East: "Just
imagine a future where people from the Nile to Jordan and Euphrates are
free to live and work and travel as they choose, where every boy and
girl has access to quality education, where visitors are able to flock
without fear."
Kerry's preference for a
Middle East policy driven by hope rather than reality was highlighted
on Dec. 7, 2013, when he said: "Imagine what a two-state solution will
mean for Israel, Palestine, Jordan and the region. Imagine what it would
mean for trade, tourism, technology, and for Israeli and Palestinian
children."
Kerry's suspension of
disbelief triggered a Nov. 21 column by Amir Taheri, the most
experienced columnist of the prestigious Saudi daily, Asharq al-Awsat,
expressing the views of the House of Saud and the Arab world at large:
"What Kerry offers is mediocre poetry ... [commissioning] marketing
studies while the whole region is in flames ... a fireman trying to put
out the flames, so far without success ... failure on a grand scale. ...
Under the deal which Kerry was boasting [of], Iran retains full
capacity to build a nuclear arsenal within one year."
The reliability of
Kerry's policy assessments and recommendations should be appraised
within the context of his track record. In 1993, unlike Sen. Daniel
Inouye, the late chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee who
defined the Oslo Accords as "a potential funeral of the Jewish state,"
then-Senator Kerry embraced PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat as a messenger of
peace in defiance of reality, namely Arafat's 40-year trail of
terrorism. Moreover, in his 1997 book "The New War," Kerry hailed
"Arafat's transformation from outlaw to statesman," ignoring Arafat's
real transformation back in the 1970s from regional terrorist to role
model of anti-U.S. international terrorism.
Now, in 2015, Kerry
embraces Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as a messenger of
peace, in defiance of reality (Abbas' 70-year trail of terrorism,
exacerbated by the establishment in 1993 of anti-Israel, anti-U.S. and
anti-Semitic Palestinian hate education in kindergartens, schools,
mosques and media, which has evolved into the most effective production
line of terrorists).
On Oct. 16, 2014, Kerry
reiterated his conviction that the Palestinian issue is the crown jewel
of Arab policy-making and the core cause of Middle East turbulence --
including Islamic terrorism -- and the crux of the Arab-Israeli
conflict.
"As I went around [the
Middle East], in the course of our discussions about the anti-ISIL
[Islamic State] coalition, there wasn't a leader who did not raise with
me, spontaneously, the need to try to get peace between Israel and
Palestinians, because it was a cause of recruitment and of street anger
and agitation that they felt -- and I see a lot of nodding [by State
Department personnel] -- they had to respond to. And people need to
understand the connection of that. And it has something to do with
humiliation and denial and absence of dignity," Kerry said.
Thus, Kerry and those
who nod in agreement with him ignore the unbridgeable gap between the
Arab talk and the Arab walk on the Palestinian issue, as evidenced by
the fact that Arabs shower the Palestinians with rhetoric, but not
resources. Contrary to what Kerry and other "Palestine Firsters," may
claim, the Palestinian issue has always been a sideshow in the Middle
East, as highlighted by the non-Palestinian-related Arab tsunami.
Furthermore, Arabs have never launched a war on behalf of Palestinians.
In fact, Arabs have launched military operations against Palestinians,
whom they have considered a source of subversion and terrorism.
Until 2011, Kerry was
one of the very few U.S. legislators who considered the late Syrian
President Hafez Assad, and then his son and successor Bashar, to be
constructive, peace-driven leaders, pressuring Israel to concede the
Golan Heights.
In 2011, once again,
Kerry sacrificed Middle East reality on the altar of his own benevolent
worldview, welcoming the Arab tsunami -- which has yet to reach its
brutal climax -- as the "Arab Spring." He viewed it as a youth
revolution, a Facebook revolution, and an ostensible transition toward
democracy, bringing an end to ruthless dictatorships and sharing with
Arabs the blessings of civil liberties and peaceful coexistence. Kerry
supported the successful effort to topple Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi
(who transferred his nuclear infrastructure to the U.S. in 2003), which
transformed post-Gadhafi Libya into the largest, most lawless platform
of Islamic terrorism in the Middle East, spreading terror into Africa,
Europe and the rest of the world.
In 2015, Kerry is still
determined to ignore Middle East reality, recycling past U.S.
initiatives that failed to advance the cause of Israel-Arab peace by
highlighting mediation rather than direct negotiation. Kerry overlooks
the fact that the only two successful peace accords (Israel-Egypt in
1979 and Israel-Jordan in 1994) were initiated and negotiated directly
between the parties. Thus, unintentionally, Kerry's involvement --
featuring the immoral, moral equivalence -- hardens Palestinian
positions. It legitimizes and rewards hate education and incitement,
which must be uprooted as a prerequisite to real peace, and indirectly
fuels Palestinian terrorism.
Yoram Ettinger
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=14489
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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