Snatching Victory
Abu Mazen left Washington a disappointed man. He wanted President Bush’s commitments in writing, parallel to that of Prime Minister Sharon; he didn’t get it. He wanted money directly in his coffers; it appears Congress will do to the $50 million what it did to the previous $250 million. He wanted Lt. Gen. Ward as a mediator between himself and the Israelis; but although the President agreed, the Israelis nixed the idea and the President didn’t push. He had a rather unpleasant session on Capitol Hill. The Palestinian press was full of negative reports upon his return to the Middle East.
Abu Mazen left Washington a disappointed man. He wanted President Bush’s commitments in writing, parallel to that of Prime Minister Sharon; he didn’t get it. He wanted money directly in his coffers; it appears Congress will do to the $50 million what it did to the previous $250 million. He wanted Lt. Gen. Ward as a mediator between himself and the Israelis; but although the President agreed, the Israelis nixed the idea and the President didn’t push. He had a rather unpleasant session on Capitol Hill. The Palestinian press was full of negative reports upon his return to the Middle East.
So why is this man smiling?
Because friends of Israel have been on a rampage about President Bush’s mention of the 1949 Armistice Line. Because friends of Israel have been saying things like, “All peace negotiations and concessions by Israel in the pursuit of peace with the Muslim Nations and Palestinians since 1949 have been rendered null and void. … the greatest betrayal of Israel committed by any American president in history.” (Hal Lindsay, World Net Daily) Because friends of Israel have been asserting a difference between the 1949 Armistice Line and the 1967 “border” and calling the former “a huge advance for the Palestinians.” (the Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Because friends of Israel have torn their hair out over the idea that the new U.S. position in Israeli-Arab peacemaking is that Israel should return to the 1949 Armistice Line unless the Palestinians agree that they don’t have to.
We will be looking at the wording of the President’s written assurances to PM Sharon and his Rose Garden statement in the presence of Abu Mazen later. But for the time being, let’s just assume that in fact the President has made one of those shifts that we really do need to worry about. Let’s just say he changed something and that the change doesn’t favor Israel.
WHY BROADCAST THAT TO THE PALESTINIANS???
Rather than telling the Palestinians they’ve won a major victory at Israel’s expense, friends of Israel would have done better to say, “Interesting. But the letter on the record spells out the President’s position in more detail. It says, ‘In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion. It is realistic to expect that any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities.’ While we can see how the Palestinians might want to interpret the Rose Garden oral remarks one way, we believe the written word represents U.S. policy.”
Leave it then to the White House to either clarify its oral position or its written one. We strongly suspect it would do the former and Abu Mazen’s original pessimism would be confirmed. There can be no benefit to friends of Israel for snatching a Palestinian victory from the jaws of less-than-success.