Sure why not? If we’re already all sitting down to pressure Israel to make concessions that endanger its existence – why not go the whole distance:
When we were taught Israeli-Arab Peace Process 101, it was an ironclad principle that Israel pushes for bilateral talks with each individual Arab enemy and the Arabs push for multilateral talks with Israel. Why? Because when the Arab states combine their negotiating strength they can make demands in unison: “hey Israel, you want this concession from the Palestinians? Well then you’re also going to have to give back the Golan to Syria.” Israel has to give something to every Arab state in order to get anything that it wants.
That’s why the Saudis are already setting preconditions for their participation (nice to see major media outlets helping them out with that – teamwork). They understand that the State Department has maneuvered Olmert into an impossible situation, and they’re ready to exploit it after three decades of Israel successfully resisting multilateral talks. Even Bush I and Baker, when they convened the multinational Madrid Conference, didn’t successfully force Israel into large-scale multilateral peace negotiations.
References:
* Rice: Syria may attend Mideast peace conference in Washington [CNN]
* Abbas: "If You Don’t Give Me Everything I Won’t Accept Anything" [MR]
* U.S. Faces a Middle East Hungry for Peace Specifics [WaPo]
Previously:
* US State Department: By "Shun" Terrorist Governments We Mean "Not Shun"
* State Department Kills Congressional Instructions, Figures Out Way To Fund Hamas [Video]
* US State Department: Lebanon Is Not Responsible for Hezbollah
Cross-posted to:
* The Astute Bloggers
* Israpundit
