Be Careful What You Ask For, Part III

And now, the obligations the President laid on Israel:

• Israel should release tax revenues to Fatah and help Abu Mazen improve economic and humanitarian conditions.
• Since Prime Minister Olmert has said that Israel’s future lies in developing the Negev and the Galilee, not the West Bank, so “unauthorized outposts” there should be removed and Israelis should “find other practical ways to reduce their footprint without reducing their security.”

And now, the obligations the President laid on Israel:

• Israel should release tax revenues to Fatah and help Abu Mazen improve economic and humanitarian conditions.
• Since Prime Minister Olmert has said that Israel’s future lies in developing the Negev and the Galilee, not the West Bank, so “unauthorized outposts” there should be removed and Israelis should “find other practical ways to reduce their footprint without reducing their security.”

OK, on the “unauthorized outposts” although they surely are less destructive of regional peace and security than Palestinian terrorism. But the rest of the principle is backward. Why is it Israel’s obligation to “find ways” to secure itself differently? Israel’s “footprint” in the West Bank is a direct result of the Second Intifada, for which Abu Mazen as Arafat’s second-in-command is largely responsible. It is the Palestinian obligation to control events on the ground in such a way that Israel’s security is not reduced.

Oh, wait. The Palestinians don’t control events on the West Bank despite millions of dollars and the efforts of American military officers. It appears the obligation is Israel’s by default, as is the humanitarian obligation that Israel undertook long ago.

We assume the President is aware that Israel has gone out of its way to provide humanitarian aid for Gaza even to the point of using a 650-foot grain conveyer to send foodstuffs into Gaza because the European monitoring force abandoned the Karni Crossing and Hamas has closed it. And aware that aid goes to Gaza from Israel even as Qassam rockets fall on Sderot. And aware that Israel has spent millions of its own tax dollars building a state-of-the-art secure crossing for Palestinian workers and goods to enter Israel every day near Bethlehem. It must be true that no country has worked so hard or spent so much on people who spend their time and treasure trying to eliminate them. Fatah as well as Hamas.

Finally, Israel, the President says, will reap benefits:

• Israel should be confident that the U.S. would never abandon its commitment to the security of Israel as a Jewish state and homeland for the Jewish people.
• The Palestinians should recognize Israel’s “right to exist.”
• A two-state solution should include “previous lines,” “current realities” and “mutually agreed adjustments.”
• The Arabs should end the fiction that Israel does not exist, stop official incitement and send cabinet level visitors to Israel.

Starting at the bottom, we would suggest that if the last could be first, all the other more hopeful prescriptions for both Palestinians and Israelis would be more likely. Instead of throwing money and military assistance at the Palestinian rump entity – unlikely ever to get out in front of the Arab States in relation to Israel – we propose a new American policy:

• The Arab states should end the fiction that Israel does not exist, stop official incitement and send cabinet level visitors to Israel.

Oh, wait.