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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Undermining mideast peace talks

Just a few days after the mideast peace talks....
In an about face, the United States on Friday withdrew a U.N. resolution endorsing this week's agreement by Israeli and Palestinian leaders to try to reach a Mideast peace settlement by the end of 2008, apparently after Israel objected.

I'm sure that builds confidence among the Arabs and Palestinians.

Update: (Haaretz) "Stephen Hadley said yesterday it is difficult to see how Syria can fit into the renewed peace process...."

posted by mikevotes at 6:16 AM

3 Comments:

  • Strange eh? Was Bush showing a streak of independence?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:28 PM  

  • It sounds more like Bush was showing his incompetence in failing to check with his "masters" first. This dance is for the benefit of the American Israeli lobby, and for the Arab states to a far lesser degree. Olmert said as much in Annapolis when he said that the American lobby would turn on Israel if democracy couldn't be restored (the South Africa analogy).

    Israel wants to be able to jump ship quickly and cleanly as soon as the rubber hits the road and they have to take action. Involving the U.N. would tie their hands to a cetain degree, or at least force the U.S. to use its Security Council veto. I point to Israels's clever semantics in re-defining "settlements" and "East Jerusalem" as evidence that they are not sincere. We will see the powerless Abbas tasked with making the first move on every issue, and Israel holding back their response until everything is perfect. Even then, I doubt Israel will close any settlements or allow any additional water and electricity into the Territories.

    By Blogger Todd Dugdale , at 8:33 PM  

  • Whatever the backstory on this, the impression generated on the Palestian/Arab side will be that the US is bending to Israel again.

    So, no peace deal.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 8:44 PM  

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