Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Obama and Israel

Besides HC, the news of the day was the treatment by Obama and his administration of Israel.Page 1 of the NYT and WSJ started out the day.The Israeli papers, cable news joined in .I was on 2 conference calls by 2 different organizations on the topic.
The bottom line seems to be that after Israel apologized and Biden accepted, the WH decided this was a good time to screw Israel.Although they are making the same mistake as last year,namely hoping that Israelis will throw out Bibi,the end result will be the opposite.
Clinton in her attack asked for concrete results,and perhaps Israel will promise that there will be no suprises (until the next time).Perhaps the talks with Mitchell as a go-between will concentrate more on major and not technical issues.However as the riots show,when the US attacks Israel, the natives get agitated,and think they can riot,hang tough and Israel will cave.
There can be no compromise on dividing Jerusalem,nor could Bibi survive backing down on Jerusalem construction.The so-called right of return and a demilitarized PA are 2 more issues that are non-starters.
Bottom line-if they can't sit at the same table and negotiate,how can they live in peace?