So what happens now? They are predicting an agreement in 2012. At least that's what the international Quartet for Middle East peace is saying. The duel of speeches, always preferable to an actual physical duel, ended exactly where it started. For the Palestinians, there is still no state, and Israel is still far from peace. The world, as expected, gave Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a round of applause: a substitute for the state that the international family of nations is not quite capable of giving. A state that Abbas, or at least his successors, will get only after negotiations with Israel, not through a hypocritical extravaganza at the United Nations. No tsunami up until now. Instead we got a target date for an agreement. The most important thing is that we won't be left in a vacuum. That would be the most dangerous thing, which everybody wants to avoid, because in the best-case scenario it leads to speeches at the U.N., but in the worst-case scenario, to war. This all was expected. The Palestinian move, contrary to the spirit of Oslo (does anyone even remember that spirit-), did not end up knocking us off our feet. Once again, Abbas attacked colonialist Israel and Netanyahu lectured about the history of countries that have no interest in letting the details ruin their position. Even President Barack Obama understands who the U.Ss true ally in this region is, with all due respect to Saudi Arabia. Obama taught us that you can be pro-Palestinian without being anti-Israel. In the final analysis, we saw who the American president is really obligated to. It was predictable that commentators, both at home and abroad, anticipated our demise. Especially those at home, who envisioned that Abbas would eventually deliver us a mortal blow. His move was intended to catch us off guard; Obama was supposed to throw us to the wind and the world media was supposed to destroy us in the headlines. But in truth, if we examine the situation well, we see that there are people in the Arab world, in Yemen, Syria and Libya, who suffer more than the Palestinians. It is a bit difficult to show compassion for a nation with double-digit economic growth, especially in a world that is so intensely fighting against economic crises. It is also hard to show compassion for the Palestinian leadership, which has been so close to an agreement on a state so many times, and yet has been hung up on the issues of settlements, the Palestinian right of return and even the Jewish character (curse the idea) of the state of Israel. They continue their policy of whining to gain world sympathy, but it still does not help them get a state. In the U.N. Security Council, they will discuss the Palestinians' petition for recognition of a state with much less pressure. Delegations to the U.N. will continue to preach the gospel to the choir, and the world will return to dealing with what actually interests it.
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