The Wondering Mind

This article in the NY Times seems to encapsulate all the reasons why the Israeli people are doing themselves no favours by having elected in the current coalition headed by extremists. It’s probably why president Obama will not make much progress on the Israeli-Palestinian issue in his first term (assuming he will have a second).

The article says that there are two reasons why the world view of the new Israeli administration will be a hard sell to the rest of the world.

First, even though the standard approaches have not yielded success, no alternative has emerged.

Second, the Obama administration has repeatedly backed the two-state solution, as have the Europeans. In other ways, too, this White House has seemed to be closer in outlook to Europe than the past administration was.

They omit the most obvious third reason why it would be a hard sell: The new Israeli story is completely self-serving of the new administration’s own extremist views and policies.

Unlike just about every other country, the new Israeli world view is that the real problem is that Arab countries don’t accept Israel, and as the growing power of Iran. Under this alternate reality vision of the issue, Iran is the real problem because they support Hamas and Hezbollah.

Even if you accept this view (I can’t bring myself to even call it an “analysis”), it is completely one-sided and self-serving. This view is really advocating the elimination of the single most active and powerful source of military, if not financial, source of support for Palestinian resistance of Israel. The Israelis policy in this case, as is apparent in all other cases, is not for peace but victory over the Palestinians, by eliminating any means of leverage the Palestinians might have over Israel.

You can see the flimsiness of the Israeli position. On the one hand, they would have you believe that the real problem is the Iranians because they are causing all the problems. All of them. But Israel will not work on trying to resolve the Palestinian issue to help with the Iranian issue because the two are not linked. So they are linked, but not linked?

According to the article, Israel would like to argue that this is all moot, because the Palestinians aren’t ready to govern themselves. From Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman,

But it is expected that he would say that such a state was far in the future because Palestinian institutions and economic development required a great deal of work — as well as investment from Arab states — and that Palestinian education and public discourse needed to be more oriented toward coexistence.

Putting aside the naked colonial language, which is frankly hard to swallow, it doesn’t take an astute observer to note that “Palestinian institutions and economic development required a great deal of work” mainly because Israel actively destroys all and any Palestinian progress on either front on a regular basis. Usually with the liberal use of tanks, missiles, guns, and assassins. Which is also why “Palestinian education and public discourse needed to be more oriented toward coexistence.”

Fact of the matter is that before there can be real peace, Palestinians will have to put a stop to violence against Israel. But if Israel is serious about wanting peace, as opposed to trying to dictate peace (which is, of course, not the same thing), then it has to make concessions and compromises too. And so far it hasn’t.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks Israel hasn’t been doing much in the way of compromising or contributing.

The American, European and Arab response is that for Iran to be checked, every nation needs to do its part, and Israel’s part is to work toward ending the occupation, stopping settlement construction and fostering the creation of a Palestinian state.

Israeli negotiating tactic is most reminiscent of North Korean dealings with the rest of the world. They act out like a spoiled child. Then they eventually come whining to negotiations and sign a deal. The rest of the world starts to deliver, but North Korea doesn’t, so the world demands the North do so. They scream and yell they have been insulted, tear up the deal publicly, and demand another deal while trying to keep the benefits they already received in bad faith.

Israel keeps promising they’ll give back other people’s land (the Golan Heights), but only if they get something too. (Kind of like a thief offering to return your car, but only if you pay for it.) They say they’ll stop expanding settlements, and don’t. They say they’ll slow the expansion from their current levels, while accelerating the rate of “current” expansions.

While the world may not like what Hamas and Hezbollah have to say, at least they deal in (relative) good faith.