February 8, 2005
SMALL ENCHILADA THINKING:
COERCIVE UTIOPIANS (Arnaud de Borchgrave, February 4, 2005, UPI)
Former Middle Eastern negotiators are divided between those who favor rapid final status negotiations and others who believe the second Bush administration should facilitate the resumption of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians one slow step at a time. This will take a year or two to begin to see the outlines of a viable Palestinian state.The other school is convinced this is the road that leads to nowhere. Instead, they favor the big enchilada approach, a kind of forced diplomatic march, or shuttle, much the way Henry Kissinger pulled off two Sinai and one Golan disengagement agreements in 1973 and 1974. They argue this is the only way the Israelis would concede the existence of a real nation for 4 million Palestinians.
The all-in-one-fell-swoop deal entails, by definition, a grand compromise. The Palestinians would have to take the right of return to Israel for Palestinian refugees off the green baize table. And in exchange, Israel would have to dismantle most of its settlements in the West Bank, with the exception of those close to the old 1967 border. East Jerusalem would also have to become the capital of a Palestinian state. And for that to work, Israel would have to reopen direct links, now blocked by Israeli settlements, between Jerusalem and the West Bank.
All this leaves the mega problem of what to do with the 420-mile, $2 billion physical barrier that separates Israel from the West Bank, and which snakes in and out of Palestinian land.
Mr. de Borchgrave here reveals how crabbed is the imagination of the dimplomatic crowd. We've gotten this far down the Road precisely by not negotiating--with Ariel Sharon unilaterally withdrawing from Palestinian territory and building a wall to define the limits of the imminent Palestine and with George W. Bush ordering the Palestinians to elect a democratic leadership. Now the Israelis and Palestinians have simply declared mutual ceasefires, without any written agreement. The enchilada has already been served. All that remains is for the United States and Israel to recognize a state of Palestine and for Mr. Abbas to accept on behalf of his people. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 8, 2005 3:02 PM
Alas, such precipitous, non-dialogue centered action pre-empts all those wonderful cocktail receptions. The barbarians, have they no idea of good form.
Posted by: Luciferous at February 8, 2005 6:07 PMWhat we're waiting for now is to see whether or not Abbas has the cajones to take on the inevtibable hard-liners who will pop up and begin their efforts to sabotage the latest agreement, the same way the militants in Iraq are trying to sabtoage the start-up of a new government there. If Abbas does face down the challenge and receives widespread support among the Palestinian people, most of the other stuff decreases in importance.
Posted by: John at February 8, 2005 9:56 PM"All this leaves the mega problem of what to do with the 420-mile, $2 billion physical barrier that separates Israel from the West Bank ..."
What mega-problem? How about just finishing it, simultaneously ending the terror threat to Israel and defining the border of the new Palestinian state.
Eurotwits like the bald headed Belgian bozo, de Borchgrave, always find it easier to blame everything on those dirty, Christ-killing, beany-wearing, boner-nosed Jewboys, than actually doing any hard thinking about difficult matters.
It's a strategy that has worked so well for 1700 years, why change now?
Posted by: Bart at February 9, 2005 11:58 AM