It’s beginning to become clear to me that it’s important not only to note what Barack Obama says but how and in what context he says it. Israeli prime ministers are used to getting individual face time with U.S. presidents. They’re used to being treated as royalty and with kid gloves. They preen a bit in a White House press conference and look good to all the folks back home.
This story indicates to me that Obama means no more business as usual. Yes, Bibi will get his meeting with Obama in May. But it will only be in the context of other meetings of equivalent importance with two other players in the I-P conflict, Mubarak and Abbas.
Gone are the days when Israeli premiers could boast of their unfettered access to the Oval Office. Bibi will have to get in line like everyone else. And if he doesn’t produce there likely will be no more White House photo opportunities. In fact, Bibi could be out in the cold if he continue spouting the same rejectionist line he’s been using over the past few weeks.
Basically, it’s put up or shut up time in Jerusalem. If he doesn’t, then it will be a long, cold interval until Bibi gets booted out of office and is replaced (hopefully) with someone more conducive to making real progress on the issues.
While this may have some relevance to the Palestinians, it was almost wholly directed at Bibi’s intransigent government:
”My hope would be,” Obama said, ”that over the next several months, that you start seeing gestures of good faith on all sides. I don’t want to get into the details of what those gestures might be, but I think that the parties in the region probably have a pretty good recognition of what intermediate steps could be taken as confidence-building measures.”
In other words, if Obama doesn’t see real, tangible progress like settlements dismantled, roadblocks removed and the Gaza blockade eased, then it will be a cold day in Hell before Bibi gets anything from our side. Not to mention that Obama might go public with his displeasure, thereby exerting even more pressure. The last J Street poll indicates that American Jews would have little problem with their president expressing such views and doing so publicly.
What kind of “good-will gestures” do you think Obama will demand from the Palestinians?
Well, Palestinians could start by removing all their obnoxious settlements and disruptive roadblocks inside Israel that so blight the everyday lives of ordinary Israelis. Of course Israelis might not have noticed these because THERE AREN’T ANY.
Maybe Palestinians could demonstrate their good will by saying thank you for being allowed to travel to work or school or for being presented with the bills for having their homes demolished. They could say thank you for being allowed to rebuild their shattered communities in Gaza. Assuming, of course, that they are ever allowed to rebuild their shatter communities in Gaza.
You’re smoking something again, Richard. Or just plain wishful thinking. Do you really think Obama will buck the Lobby? As he has shown in the “torture memo” case, he is too weak, or unwilling to abjure what his bosses tell him. He is a toady to the establishment. Lieberman’s braggadocio aside, Israel will get away with what it wants. As it always has. There will be no two-state solution, except on Israel’s apartheid terms. Mubarak and Abbas will confirm that. That’s what they get paid for, and why they are still in “power.”
Antony Loewenstein, interestingly refers to Bernard Avishai’s blog where Avishai looks at the same quote with considerable skepticism. He states the language is all wrong. He thinks Obama needs to be talking tougher.
“Obama, in other words, has to start by imposing an agenda on Israel’s conversation. He can win over Israelis eventually, but only if every front page story for the next six months is about whether or not Bibi and Lieberman are destroying relations with Washington. That is the only thing Israeli elites fear more than the loss of solidarity.”
http://bernardavishai.blogspot.com/2009/04/in-meeting-with-king-abdullah-ii-of.html
Bar Kockbal32: My message to the Palestinians would be Stay alive!
I agree with Richard. I don’t view Obama’s actions as weak or subservience. Really, how rude: calling him a toady. The problems presented by Mubarak and Abbas are really the concern of the people who created the situation, the US and Israel, IMO. That there is a new sheriff in town may not be a story line Netanyahu recognizes, but I’d bet he does. And we aren’t talking about the land of Robin Hood here.
Bah! Scat!