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Obama brings curtain down on Mideast peace process

(Haaretz) –  U.S. President Barack Obama started bringing down the curtain on the American peace initiative spearheaded by his secretary of state, John Kerry, since last March. Obama did not formally wave the white flag, but his statements to the press make it clear that he thinks that currently, both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are not partners for peace.

Obama’s statements were neither planned nor orchestrated in advance. He was asked a question, and he answered honestly and directly that despite a year of supreme efforts by the American administration, both Netanyahu and Abbas were unwilling to show leadership. In Obama’s opinion, both figures, motivated by political survival, don’t want to make decisions which will begin to untie the Gordian knot called the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The American president termed the new American policy toward the peace process as a “pause.” John Kerry called it a “transition to a holding period.” In simple English, the two gave the signal over the weekend for the American retreat from the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Various officials in Washington are pressing Obama and Kerry to enter the “pause” only after the administration tables its principles for the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s core issues, including the issues of refugees and of Jerusalem. Kerry is toying with the idea, but Obama has no appetite for another adventure which will surely run into the brick wall of Netanyahu, Abbas and Co.

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No one will be surprised if sooner or later U.S. envoy Martin Indyk– who has become even more frustrated than his predecessor, George Mitchell– announces his resignation and returns to his previous job at the Brookings Institute in Washington.

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For the Palestinians, the implications will be a steep deterioration in economy and security. For the Israelis, the repercussions will include a worsening international isolation, increased calls for boycotts and even sanctions by the European Union and other bodies against the settlement enterprise. Tragically, it seems both sides need a crisis in order to get truly motivated to move forward.

In the coming days, Netanyahu will most likely continue his propaganda assault on Abbas and the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation agreement. He has already taken over the Sunday television shows on American networks, and he probably won’t stop there.

What Palestinian Reconciliation Means for the Peace Process – April 2011

In 2011 Hamas was riding high with support from Egypt’s President Morsi, the emir of Qatar, Turkey’s Erdogan (Muslim Brotherhood nations) and Secretary Hillary Clinton. In the meantime, the Muslim Brotherhood facade has collapsed and a new wind is blowing in the Middle-East under leadership of the Sunni Salafist and Wahhabist GCC states.

○ Israel and US question pact by Hamas and Fatah for unity government April 27, 2011
○ Samantha Power, the Monster, and the Libyan Intervention  Sept. 12, 2011
○ US Foreign Policy, Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood Ploy  Oct. 13, 2012

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