Everyone agrees about the Middle East today. Everyone agrees that peace looks remote as ever and the process has all but completely collapsed. The Obama administration is strengthening precisely the wrong people as it proceeds with its clumsy efforts to produce peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It’s a sad spectacle to watch.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power with minimal popular support. In fact, last March more people voted for his main rival, the Kadima party led by former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, a fervent advocate of Israel’s need to make painful compromises for the sake of peace with Palestinians.
President Obama’s misguided efforts have created such a sense of anxiety among Israelis that Washington is weakening moderates, strengthening hardliners and pushing the prospects for peace further out of reach.
Netanyahu is enjoying a surge in popularity at home as Israelis look for a strong leader in the face of confusing moves from Washington, combined with the looming threat from an Iran that continues arming the likes of Hezbollah.
On the Palestinian side, Washington’s actions have proven just as pernicious. The Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas has become paralyzed as a direct result of Obama’s actions. Obama’s loud demands on Israel have more than hardened Palestinian positions. They have created demands unlike any the Palestinians had made since the start of negotiations. While once the P.A. wanted U.S. officials to pressure Israel to negotiate, now Abbas simply refuses to talk to Israel unless it gives in, before sitting down to talk, to demands that Abbas well knows would bring down Netanyahu’s government. Now Abbas threatens to resign.
Obama has lost his mojo in the Middle East. Nobody listens to him, nobody trusts him. A poll found 70 percent of Palestinians have a negative view of the U.S. president. His standing in Israel is no better.
It is extraordinary that this is happening even as majorities of both Israelis and Palestinians offer strong support for the two-state solution. The War & Peace Index poll showed a record 75 percent of Israelis support negotiations, but 68 percent of Israelis also say Obama is not likely to preserve Israel’s interests in the long run.
If Israelis don’t believe they can trust Washington, they will retrench and do all they can to protect themselves. They will resist taking risks for peace and support hardliners. If the Palestinians don’t think Washington will protect Israel, they will revert to the view, still held by Hamas and Iran, that Israel can and should be destroyed.
