How do you say 'bloodthirsty' in English?

June 15, 2007
Naturally, my weekend column (with Aluf Benn) deals with the events in Gaza and with Prime Minister Olmert's visit to Washington next week. You can read it in full here, but for those of you who are tired of reading about this issue (my news piece on the matter, written right after Abbas has decided to dissolve the unity government is here) I will recommend these two wonderful stories with which we start and end our column and in between a very short part of the analysis we wrote:

Sharon

July 2005. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is visiting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at his Sycamore Ranch on the eve of the disengagement from the Gaza Strip.

It's a reciprocal visit, coming a few weeks after Sharon's trip to U.S. President George W. Bush's ranch in Texas. Sharon shows Rice the sheep and the fruit trees, and then the American and Israeli delegations meet for breakfast.

Sharon begins by identifying with the suffering of the Palestinians and speaks of the great opportunity that will befall them in Gaza after the Israeli withdrawal. Rice's ears perk up; it's not every day that you hear Sharon displaying such empathy.

"There are only two problems," says Sharon, turning his gaze to his left. "Dubi, how do you say 'bloodthirsty' in English?"

Sharon's adviser Dov Weissglas chokes on his avocado salad as an embarrassed silence fills the room. U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams translates the term. Now it's Rice's turn to choke on her salad.

"There are only two problems," repeats Sharon. "They're bloodthirsty and treacherous."

"All of them?" asks Rice. "Yes," the prime minister responds. "All of them."

Abbas

In November 2005, in his last meeting with Rice, Sharon made a prediction. Hamas' participation in the Palestinian elections could lead to the end of the road map, he said, adding that Israel fully backs Bush's democratization efforts but that it wouldn't back the murderers of Jews, even if they participate in the elections.

If Rice forgot Sharon's warnings, she received an updated version last week from former defense minister Shaul Mofaz, who was participating in a strategic dialogue in Washington. Mofaz warned that the Hamas-Fatah clashes would continue, saying that Hamas' goal is to take control of the Palestinian Authority, by force if necessary. In comments to reporters, Mofaz used a word coined by Major General (Res.) Amos Gilad: Hamastan. Only Mofaz jazzed it up a bit; he spoke of the "Hamastinian Authority."

"The American strategy has totally collapsed," Israeli officials said. "They carried out an exercise in democracy, and that led to the election of Hamas. Then they wanted to arm the Fatah operatives in Gaza so they would fight Hamas, instead of blocking the weapons and the money being smuggled into the strip."

The Americans were planning a diplomatic blitz over the next two weeks, focusing on the Palestinian issue. After Bush's speech, Rice will visit the region; the previous visit had been deferred, and after all, Rice has promised to come every five or six weeks. There will be the Quartet and the Arab League. The Americans are not rushing to switch gears. They still believe that strengthening Abbas is the only solution left, and that's what they'll tell Olmert.

Reagan

In September 1986, then-U.S. president Ronald Reagan scrawled a short note of regret in his diary. Then-Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who had committed to a rotation agreement with the Likud, had been replaced by Yitzhak Shamir ¬and Reagan would have preferred Peres stay in the position. A year before, in October 1985, Reagan wrote that Peres was "the most flexible and resourceful" Israeli prime minister he had known since becoming president - the other prime minister being Menachem Begin of the Likud Party. When Reagan first met Peres in August 1982, Peres was the opposition leader, and Reagan considered him quite a contrast to Begin. These remarks can be found in Regan's personal diaries, which were released a few weeks ago, with only minimal editing by historian Douglas Brinkley.

Before the Lebanon war began, Reagan met with Begin in Washington. Then, as now, a large security deal between the United States and Saudi Arabia was on the table. Then, as now, the Americans wanted to sell and Israel opposed the move.

Some similarities between then and now are hard to miss; they are expressed primarily by the reasons given by both sides for and against the deal. Reagan wrote in his diary on September 9, 1981, about the conversation he had with Begin regarding the Saudi deal. "I told him how strongly we felt it could help bring the Saudis into the peace making process", Reagan wrote.

All the same, more than 25 years have passed, and the Americans are still trying. The current deal, they say, will help keep Saudi Arabia in the moderate camp. The Americans, along with Olmert, are still hoping that the Saudis might even agree to join the peace process. And it might even happen, some day.