Kerry's big blunder

David Ignatius:
Secretary of State John Kerry has made a significant mistake in how he’s pursuing a Gaza cease-fire — and it’s not surprising that he has upset both the Israelis and some moderate Palestinians.

Kerry’s error has been to put so much emphasis on achieving a quick halt to the bloodshed that he has solidified the role of Hamas, the intractable, unpopular Islamist group that leads Gaza, along with the two hard-line Islamist nations that are its key supporters, Qatar and Turkey. In the process, he has undercut not simply the Israelis but also the Egyptians and the Fatah movement that runs the Palestinian Authority, all of which want to see an end to Hamas rule in Gaza.

A wiser course, which Kerry rejected in his hunt for a quick diplomatic solution, would have been to negotiate the cease-fire through the Palestinian Authority, as part of its future role as the government of Gaza. Hamas agreed last April to bring the authority back to Gaza as part of a unity agreement with Fatah that was brokered by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Kerry has been motivated by two understandable short-term needs: First, he wants to stop the horrific slaughter in Gaza, with its heavy loss of life among Palestinian civilians, including children. Second, he seeks to fulfill the instructions of President Obama, who wants an immediate cease-fire and has become skeptical about solving the knotted Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
...
Kerry may have just been following orders from Obama who has shown a knack for not getting a deal with Israel or with Republicans for that matter.  He was willing to make a bad deal with the Taliban and seems to think that others should accept his judgment on making a bad deal that gives too much to a genocidal death cult.  Whether it was Kerry or Obama pushing the proposed cease fire, it was a mistake that neither seems to comprehend.  A smart interlocuteur would have realized the proposed "draft" of a cease fire agreement was unacceptable to Israel and would be seen as an insult to their intelligence.

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