It’s the Settlements, Stupid: Washington Emulates Saddam Hussein
“European diplomats believe Netanyahu will be better able to keep his coalition together through a freeze on settlements if he can demonstrate western resolve on Iran. Meanwhile, the Gulf Arab states are increasingly nervous about the prospect of a nuclear Iran, and the offer of a US security umbrella, hinted at by Clinton last month, will help cement their contribution to an Israeli-Palestinian deal, in the form of recognition.
“However: can sanctions against Iran's oil and gas sector work, and can they generate sufficient regional momentum both to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks and to carry those negotiations through to a settlement before the end of Obama's first term, as the White House is hoping? Middle East analysts in Washington share the growing confidence of the Obama administration that he can secure a deal on resuming talks.....”
This is the Saddam Hussein approach to the Palestinian problem. Saddam claimed that the way to Jerusalem goes through Kuwait (August 1990). Now the Foggy Bottom analysts/bureaucrats seem to think that the road to Palestinian peace goes by looking even farther away; through Iran.
They are at least as wrong as Saddam was. The road to Israeli-Palestinian peace goes through the West Bank, precisely through the ever expanding illegal Israeli settlements.
Peace based on two states requires two viable states. The West Bank now looks like a piece of Swiss cheese with the Israeli settlements criss-crossing it; it is not a viable state. It takes less time to travel to a European city (as someone suggested recently, and I believe he was right) than it takes to cross the West Bank. That is not a sign of a viable state.
To put it in an American context, let’s go to California: Imagine permanent army checkpoints between Oakland and San Francisco; then between San Francisco and San Mateo; then between San Mateo and Palo Alto; then between Palo Alto and Monterey; then between…. Does this make a viable state?
It is not the Iranian nuclear threat that is holding peace back; that is only a transparent excuse that no one believes.
It is the settlements, stupid.
Get rid of the settlements and the Arab on the street will become as uneasy about the Iranian program as the despots and oligarchs who rule him are. And good luck, you sure will need it.
Cheers and Ramadan Kareem
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