Finally! I Agree With Tom Friedman! Stop Trying to Microwave the Peace Process
"Administration has ever dared to do: Take down our “Peace-Processing-Is-Us” sign and just go home.Right now we want it more than the parties. They all have other priorities today. And by constantly injecting ourselves we’ve become their Novocain. We relieve all the political pain from the Arab and Israeli decision-makers by creating the impression in the minds of their publics that something serious is happening. “Look, the U.S. secretary of state is here. Look, she’s standing by my side. Look, I’m doing something important! Take our picture. Put it on the news. We’re on the verge of something really big and I am indispensable to it.” This enables the respective leaders to continue with their real priorities — which are all about holding power or pursuing ideological obsessions — while pretending to advance peace, without paying any political price.
Let’s just get out of the picture. Let all these leaders stand in front of their own people and tell them the truth: “My fellow citizens: Nothing is happening; nothing is going to happen. It’s just you and me and the problem we own.”
Indeed, it’s time for us to dust off James Baker’s line: “When you’re serious, give us a call: 202-456-1414. Ask for Barack. Otherwise, stay out of our lives. We have our own country to fix.”
"Peace works when everyone comes in the right frame of mind to end conflict entirely. It is a process that is based on building trust between leaders and trust between peoples. That trust is built by fulfilling past agreements to the letter and not moving on when the situation changes and agreements are inconvenient. When leaders take their commitments seriously, so do do everyday citizens and that builds trust. It is true in business, it is true in friendship and it is true in diplomacy.
You cannot microwave peace. It does not happen overnight or because two leaders decide to make peace. Peace comes when a people, a nation, wants to focus on building its own society instead of destroying another's. It comes when citizens have jobs and a decent living and are striving for a better education and a better society. Peace requires a bold change of mind and heart at all levels of society in order for it to be stable. Nuclear saber rattling, rocketeering, and educational incitement are not conducive to bilateral peace nor regional stability. No Annapolis microwave will change that. But, over time, we can and we will."
posted by Michael Eisenberg at 9:58 AM
8 Comments:
I wonder whether you recommend an approach of שב ואל תעשה also to your portfolio companies when things are stuck there...
Unlike in the past, time is against Israel (demography, Iran, etc.) so we can ill afford adopting a Shamir-esque attitude of "letting things run their course".
Sharvul -
What i think is that the best way to get to a peaceful outcome is to look the other way. In every process, people and countries need to conclude that it is in their self-interest. otherwise, it is neither practical nor lasting.
And to add one more thing. We need to act and do what is in Israel's self interest rather than waiting for others to start a process. There should be a bias for action and not process.
I'm no fan of Friedman but he might have a real point for once on this approach. I would add stop funding Israel and Egypt, embargo weapons shipments to the Middle East and Africa and embargo AIPAC and others shipping money to Israel, just as we've embargoed Islamic charities. If you withhold gasoline and other fuel from a fire, it will eventually go out.
If you embargo shipments of weapons to Israel how are we going to defend ourselves against Hamas and Hizbala because no one is very successful with the embargo against them. You might as well sign our death warrant right away.
I was going to write a similar blog concerning this topic, you beat me to it. You did a nice job! Thanks and well add your rss to come categories on our blogs. Thanks much, Jon B.find a job
Whilst I agree that taking the spotlight off the 'peace process' may eventually lead to 'peace', it's clear that Israeli ambitions to fracture, occupy and build out to the Palestinian territories is not sated yet. So, without the US 'sticking its nose in', I guess we would see ten or twenty years of frantic building and territorial aquisition. Then a 'settlement' would be offered to the Palestinians, who would not be able to accept it.
With reservations, I always thought that the Palestinians did their bit when Arafat et al accepted two states and entered negotiations. Sure, there are ongoing issues, but it seems that the desire of Israel to conclude some sort of eternal occupation beyond the 1967 line is really what will not let this settle.
Sure, the best thing the US could do would be to take their ball home along with all their funding. Then we might see some sense in the region.
"...it's clear that Israeli ambitions to fracture, occupy and build out to the Palestinian territories is not sated yet. "
Rhetorical nonsense.
Israel offered virtually all of the WB and Gaza back in 1967--and got the Three Noes of the Arab League's infamous Khartoum Conference. Every peace offer by Israel has been rejected by the Palestinians because the Palestinians always add one more maximalist demand (the most recent being ALL of Jerusalem, not half) and they continue to indoctrinate their children in the credo that there is NO Israel ("name the ports of Palestine: Haifa, Acco, Jaffa, Ashkelon and Ashdod." All in Israel) Both Fatah and Hamas espouse never recognizing Israel, and promoting war to achieve their ends. No new settlements have been started in 15 years---and many of those "settlements" were former Jewish villages and farms and towns overrun by the Jordanian and Iraqi armies and ethnically cleansed--the Old City of Jerusalem, previously majority Jewish for over a century, is a splendid example of Palestinian mendacity--because the Arabs overran it, killed or expelled the Jewish inhabitants, and illegally occupied it and stole their homes for 19 years, that now makes it "Palestinian." You, "6p00d8341c8bbb53ef" need to spend more time with a history book and less time on the Far-Left fascistic bigot pages of the internet which specialize in the kind of Big Lies you mouth here.
Post a Comment
<< Home