The failure of the latest round of Israel-Palestine talks is going to result in a rude awakening for Israel. The administration isn’t hiding that they almost exclusively blame Israel for the failure. Specifically, they blame the settlers and their most ardent supporters, and the fact that Netanyahu’s government cannot survive if he makes certain required concessions. Here’s an anonymous senior government official closely involved in the talks:
“There are a lot of reasons for the peace effort’s failure, but people in Israel shouldn’t ignore the bitter truth – the primary sabotage came from the settlements. The Palestinians don’t believe that Israel really intends to let them found a state when, at the same time, it is building settlements on the territory meant for that state. We’re talking about the announcement of 14,000 housing units, no less. Only now, after talks blew up, did we learn that this is also about expropriating land on a large scale. That does not reconcile with the agreement.
“At this point, it’s very hard to see how the negotiations could be renewed, let alone lead to an agreement. Towards the end, Abbas demanded a three-month freeze on settlement construction. His working assumption was that if an accord is reached, Israel could build along the new border as it pleases. But the Israelis said no.”
It’s hard not to laugh out loud at: “Only now, after talks blew up, did we learn that this is also about expropriating land on a large scale.” If senior officials in the U.S. Government were operating under a different assumption, that’s over now.
They had other warnings for Israel, too.
“The international community, especially the European Union, avoided any action during the negotiations. Now, a race will begin to fill the void. Israel might be facing quite a problem.
“As of now, nothing is stopping the Palestinians from turning to the international community. The Palestinians are tired of the status quo. They will get their state in the end – whether through violence or by turning to international organizations.
“The boycott and the Palestinian application to international organizations are medium-range problems. America will help, but there’s no guarantee its support will be enough.
“There’s a bigger problem threatening Israel in the immediate future. This is a very concrete threat. If Israel tries to impose economic sanctions on the Palestinians, it could boomerang. The West Bank economy will collapse, and then Abbas will say ‘I don’t want this anymore. Take this from me.’ There’s great potential for deterioration here, which could end with the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority. Israeli soldiers will have to administer the lives of 2.5 million Palestinians, to their mothers’ chagrin. The donating countries will stop paying up, and the bill of $3 billion a year will have to be paid by your Finance Ministry.”
Reading between the lines, the Americans are basically telling the Israelis that they just screwed themselves. And I think that’s, sadly, true. They could have had an agreement reached by mutual settlement, along with the good will of most of the world. They will not get that now. Instead, they will get boycotted and the international community will rally around the Palestinians.
And the American left is about fed up, even at the highest levels of our government.
