Obama's Middle East screw up

Mark Landler, NY Times:

For President Obama, getting into a serious fight with Israel carries obvious domestic and foreign political risks. But it may offer the administration a payoff it sees as worthwhile: shoring up Mr. Obama’s credibility as a Middle East peacemaker by showing doubtful Israelis and Palestinians that he has the fortitude to push the two sides toward an agreement.

The risks at home were on display on Tuesday, as nearly two dozen members of Congress, many of them Democrats, implored Mr. Obama to ease the tensions with the Israeli government after its announcement of a Jewish housing plan during a visit by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

The House Republican whip, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, called the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, to complain that the administration had seized on a minor diplomatic contretemps to try to impose its views on a loyal friend. Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate, issued a statement urging the president to “push the reset button on our relations with our ally Israel.”

For all the angst coming from Capitol Hill, however, the Obama administration seemed generally unruffled. And there were tentative signs that it was taking steps to cool the temperature with Israel.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton kept up the pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to demonstrate that he was committed to negotiations with the Palestinians. But she reaffirmed the relationship between the United States and Israel, and brushed aside talk of a crisis.

“Oh, I don’t buy that,” Mrs. Clinton said. “I’ve been around not that long, but a long time. We have an absolute commitment to Israel’s security. We have a close, unshakable bond between the United States and Israel and between the American and Israeli people.”

A senior administration official said the harsh rebuke of Mr. Netanyahu, delivered in a phone call last week by Mrs. Clinton, was important “to demonstrate we mean what we say when we enter these talks.” The announcement of a housing plan, the official said, undermined trust just as the United States was trying to open indirect talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.

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It means no such thing. If they meant what they say they would have had no objection to the zoning plan because they had already praised the Israelis for agreeing to stop building in the West Bank, while continuing to build in Jerusalem last fall.

What is worse is they are hammering Israel when the real obstacle to peace is the Palestinians as they have been for over 60 years. They don't want a peace agreement with Israel, that is why they have refused to negotiate for the last 14 months. It is beyond perverse to be hammering Israel when it is the Palestinians who will not even meet for a negotiating session.

The Palestinian preconditions to meeting also nonsensical. If they want to have a building halt, they should come to the table and negotiate it. The problem the Palestinians have is they do not have anything of value to offer the Israelis in return. They cannot promise peace because they can not deliver on that promise. They lack the will to stop Palestinian factions from making war against Israel.

If housing in the West Bank and Israel was really an issue, why did Hamas continue its war against Israel after Israel withdrew from Gaza and and took all the settlers with it? The settlers are just a bogus excuse for the Palestinians to continue their war. It si time for the administration to quit pretending that the Palestinians or the Arabs are really interested in a peace deal with Israel. If the Arabs were really interested they would be threatening the Palestinians with a loss of their subsidies if they did not agree to a deal.