The inevitable conclusion to the last two posts. Keep in mind that these concessions are meant to punish Israel for provocations specifically related to Biden’s visit, which even Biden admits weren’t provocations at all.
Fatah-led Palestinians in the West Bank responded to Biden by honoring child-murdering American-killing filthbag Dalal Mughrabi immediately after the VP explicitly asked them not to (“I said… to the Palestinians, Abbas and Fayyed… they should not do that”). Hamas-led Palestinians in the Gaza Strip launched multiple rocket barrages, one of which killed an Israeli farm worker who was there earning money to send back to his wife and child in Thailand.
So obviously Obama has blackmailed Netanyahu into giving concessions to Fatah-led Palestinians in the West Bank and Hamas-led Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Because unlike the Israelis they responded to Biden’s visit with warmth and good will. Obviously:
Netanyahu has bowed to U.S. demands and promised the Obama administration that Israel will make several goodwill gestures toward the Palestinians. For the first time since Operation Cast Lead, Israel has agreed to ease the blockade on the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu has also agreed to discuss all core issues during the proximity talks, with the condition of reaching final conclusions only in direct talks with the PA… Netanyahu also agreed to release hundreds of Fatah-affiliated prisoners as a gesture to PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
There are a couple other concessions being made, of which the most significant involves incorporating so-called “core issues” into the upcoming proximity talks. The Palestinians will get to send Mitchell scurrying back and forth with demands for Israeli territorial concessions, all the while refusing to sit down across from their would-be partners in peace. Sure that model is a literally Chamberlain-esque diplomatic throwback to the worst days of Arab rejectionism. But the foreign policy gurus in the Obama White House say it will convince the Palestinians to make peace, and look what a good job they’ve done navigating the Middle East so far.
There’s also plenty more hypocrisy in play. Israel was explicitly allowed to build in East Jerusalem under the terms of the temporary settlement freeze that Clinton called “unprecedented,” while the Palestinian Authority is forbidden from inciting terrorism under any number of accords. Israel had told the US in advance that East Jerusalem construction would continue – taking away the White House’s outraged claims of surprise – while the Palestinians had assured the US that the pro-terrorist celebration had been called off. Etc etc.
But those are just details. The overarching dynamic is that Obama’s leveraging what’s left of the US-Israel special relationship to coerce Israeli concessions, and that he’s doing it on the basis of unblinking contradictions and incoherent arguments. No one outside of his most devoted and dishonest worshipers still denies that. Sure the lack of a suitable pretext has prevented him from totally detonating the alliance. But give him some time.
References and related after the jump…
References:
* Biden: Why Can’t Folks Just “Get Over” How I “Condemned” Israel, Which I Will Now Do Again [MR]
* Compare And Contrast: “Condemnation”-Worthy Israeli And Palestinian Symbolism During Biden Visit [MR]
* EXCLUSIVE: Vice President Biden: US and Israel Must ‘Get Over’ Latest Tensions [Tapper / ABC News]
* Palestinians fire rocket into Israel, no casualties [AFP]
* Gazans Again Committing War Crimes, Killing Israeli Civilians In Rocket Attacks [MR]
* Netanyahu bows to U.S. demands ahead of Washington visit [Ha'aretz]
* Housing Bust Why is Obama so upset with Israel? [Peretz / TNR The Spine]
* NJDC Tool Aaron Keyak Helpfully Illustrates How Liberal Activists Sneeringly Cocoon Themselves In Asinine Arguments And Dishonest Smears [MR]
* The WH’s Eight-Step Plan For Detonating The US-Israel Relationship [MR]
Related Mere Rhetoric Categories:
* Jewish Politics
* Israel
* Anti-Israel Diplomacy
