Poor choice of words, poorer outcome
A decision will have to be made on the fate of the peace talks. The spate of events point in that direction. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas can lament all he wants about how Israeli forces wreaked havoc in the Jenin refugee camp over the weekend but he too knows that whenever a Hamas operative is taken care of, his regime in Ramallah gets stronger. He must not use that incident to shirk his duties when it comes combating terrorism, especially because such attacks are designed to thwart attacks at their planning phase. His assertion that he will only extend the talks if Israel accepts a set of unrealistic demands is nothing but an empty threat. It is designed to curry favor with U.S. President Barack Obama, who was angry at Abbas because he wouldn't breathe new life into the peace process.
Israel, on its part, would be well-served if it has Abbas backed into a corner. It must not be resigned to a situation where some unnamed "senior administration official" goes on the attack because of Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon's criticism of U.S. foreign policy. This "senior official" has over the past 14 years focused on what Israel has been doing wrong in the peace process, turning a blind eye to the other party's conduct. Ya'alon must apologize for his comments, especially over his playing down of the U.S. military aid -- worth some $3.1 billion. He said it should not be considered a favor because "the U.S. has an air carrier in the Middle East, Israel." True, Ya'alon was echoing what he had heard many years ago while conversing with an American official, but he must still apologize.
If I were Ya'alon I would have taken a deep breath and apologized profusely. I would have shed my righteous indignation for a few days until the criticism had withered. Not because Obama was deeply offended, but because the U.S. officials had taken advantage of my poor choice of words and used them to improve their relations with the Palestinians. Cabinet ministers have also tried to use Ya'alon's comments to their advantage. Ya'alon is a strong-willed individual who knows how to handle what gets thrown at him; he must brace for some incoming fire that would remove the obstacles that have hurt the Israel-U.S. relations in this make-or-break moment in the peace talks, particularly because U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry believes his prestige will ultimately boil down to his handling of those talks.
We are going to face a nerve-racking few weeks. We are going to have to deal with more events like the one at the Jenin refugee camp. We are going to see mountains made out of molehills anytime someone misspeaks like Ya'alon, especially as Israel nears a decision on releasing another group of terrorists, this time including Israeli citizens. Kerry promised Abbas that Israel would deliver. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu never promised to do so; he only said that he would ask the cabinet to vote on such a measure, if it ever came up. This could cause more friction with the U.S. It would be best if Netanyahu announces radio silence when he convenes his cabinet this week. His government now faces a dilemma: Should it burn its bridges with the U.S. or should it bite the bullet? We have forty days left until the clock runs out on the peace talks. But haste makes waste, especially when one rushes to make regrettable statements.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו