Netanyahu – Clinton Meeting
The Administration’s Israeli-Palestinian policy is based on what liberal journalist Tom Friedman calls “the Sadat Standard” – breakthrough diplomacy. Friedman wrote, “It’s hard to get excited about this meeting. How can you? You can only get excited about a summit when you sense that there is someone there with the will to create a real breakthrough.”
Who needs excitement? Israel needs recognition of its sovereign rights, including security. The Palestinians need a peaceful mechanism to achieve self-government.
The Administration’s Israeli-Palestinian policy is based on what liberal journalist Tom Friedman calls “the Sadat Standard” – breakthrough diplomacy. Friedman wrote, “It’s hard to get excited about this meeting. How can you? You can only get excited about a summit when you sense that there is someone there with the will to create a real breakthrough.”
Who needs excitement? Israel needs recognition of its sovereign rights, including security. The Palestinians need a peaceful mechanism to achieve self-government. The best way to get there is through direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This can be a long, slow,painful and definitely NOT exciting proposition. It is, however, the way that ensures that the sides will be committed to fulfilling their obligations. Having the President in the middle looking for “excitement” by pressuring Israel to go beyond its obligations is a recipe for trouble.
Warren Christopher wrote after the signing of the Hebron Accord, “I would like to reiterate our position that Israel is entitled to secure and defensible borders, which should be directly negotiated and agreed with its neighbors.” A wise thought. Nevertheless, Israel’s UN Ambassador Dore Gold said during PM Netanyahu’s visit, “Israel is being asked to make new concessions that go beyond the Oslo agreements in order to win Palestinian compliance with security responsibilities that are within the Oslo agreements. Rather than facing sanctions for its adoption of violence, the PA is expecting to be rewarded.”
The Hebron Accord, and the accompanying Note for the Record written by U.S. emissary Dennis Ross, are models of incremental confidence building. The Israelis had four requirements in addition to the removal of its authority from 70% of Hebron, the birthplace of the Jewish people. Two are done. The outstanding interim agreement issues are under discussion, although continuing terrorism has made it difficult for Israel to be forthcoming some points. And a quick move to permanent status negotiations is the goal the PM brought to Washington.
The Palestinians had four, too. But the Palestinian Charter remains in its original form. And the Police force remains vastly over sized. And the PA still tries to run Palestinian affairs from offices in Jerusalem. And they are in active violation of the crucial requirement to “fight terrorism and prevent violence,” which includes strengthening security cooperation; preventing incitement and hostile propaganda; combating terrorist organizations and infrastructure; apprehending, prosecuting and punishing terrorists; acting upon requests for extradition; and confiscating illegal firearms.
We suspect the reason the Administration is peeved with the Prime Minister is that he has brought a copy of the Note for the Record with him to the talks.
Shimon Peres believed in breakthrough diplomacy. He lost the last election. According to Israeli Minister Natan Sharansky, “(Peres) often asserted the abyss we faced… had to be traversed in one leap of faith.” The current government, “rejected this notion as the height of political naivete. A leap of faith would only plunge us into chaos. We would not overcome our mutual distrust by forgetting the past, but by seeing a change in the future.”
He added, “Our greatest success has been to modify the expectations of all parties to the peace process. We have witnessed in the past 18 months an adjustment of Palestinian and Israeli expectations to a point where they are beginning to correspond to reality, if not yet each other. This will provide a more favorable climate for peace than the atmosphere of delusion over which the previous administration presided.”
We would add only that the “previous administration” refers to the Labor government in Israel. Unfortunately, there remains an administration in Washington that believes in breakthrough diplomacy.