Subscribe to Print Edition | Fri., November 28, 2008 Kislev 1, 5769 | | Israel Time: 12:31 (EST+7)
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Peace within reach
By Aluf Benn
Tags: israel news

WASHINGTON - On the pavement at the entrance to the White House, workers are setting up the stage for the inauguration of Barack Obama. To an Israeli accustomed to improvisations this looks strange. The event will only take place seven weeks from now, and they are already preparing the stage instead of waiting for the last minute. But this is the United States of America, and here they work by the book and plan ahead.

Inside the White House, President George W. Bush organized a sad farewell party for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The convoy of limousines crossed the street from the presidential guesthouse to the White House, and an officer in a white uniform greeted the prime minister at the gate, following the protocol. Inside, in the Oval Office, the two exchanged compliments and thanks for their great missed opportunities. Thank you for your support for the two-state vision, said Bush to Olmert. Thank you for the war in Iraq, which eliminated a great threat to us, Olmert replied. Only the meager media presence was a reminder that the leaders are about to vacate their chairs, and their authority is fading away.

For old-timers, this event brought back memories from eight years ago. Then as now, an Israeli prime minister at the end of his road tried to achieve a historic peace agreement with the Palestinians, with the help of an American president about to be replaced. Then, as now, the Israelis and Americas wanted to sew things up and the Palestinian leader refused to sign, saying the deal was a bad one. Then, as now, Israel was facing a political reversal and the rise of the right to power. Then, as now, the prime minister displayed determination and doggedness, while the public was just waiting for him to go away.
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My offer to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) goes further than anything offered to the Palestinians in the past, and your role is to get him to sign, said Olmert to Bush. In a little while I'm not going to be here, you're not going to be here and Abu Mazen is telling me he intends to leave. The two-state solution, the only way to end the conflict, is in danger. Let's make one last effort.

This is exactly what former prime minister Ehud Barak said to former president Bill Clinton eight years ago. The only difference is that according to Olmert, his offer to the Palestinians was more generous than Barak's. Bush wants to end his term in office with an Israeli-Palestinian agreement and show all his critics that they have been wrong; that his approach has indeed brought peace. But the chance of this happening looks small to him.

Abu Mazen is saying to the Americans that it is hard for him to accept Olmert's proposal. He fears that the next Israeli government will renounce the agreement and refuse to honor it, even if Kadima and not Likud wins the election in February. Olmert is proposing that Israel absorb a symbolic number of refugees, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is opposed even to this. Olmert's proposal concerning Jerusalem - division of neighborhoods by ethnicity and an international mechanism to find an arrangement for the holy places - looks vague and impractical to the Palestinians.

Abu Mazen will be invited for a farewell visit of his own to the White House, just as Yasser Arafat was during Clinton's last days. And again it is being said that the way to overcome Palestinian stubbornness goes through the Arab countries. If Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia back him, Abu Mazen will change his mind and sign on to Olmert's proposal.

This is what was hoped eight years ago as well. But the Arab countries care above all about their own interests and not about the Palestinians'; the chance that they will now shake Olmert's hand is zero. Thus another term in office of an American president and Israeli prime minister will culminate in a stack of memoirs about the peace that was within reach and was missed.

Obama should learn two lessons from this way of doing things. The first is that plans aren't enough: The public proposal for an Israeli-Palestinian peace published by his close associates is absolutely identical to Bush's positions and the positions of previous presidents. The question is how to turn it into a reality, and no one has found an answer. The second lesson is that leaders' terms of office are short and they must not wait.

Leaders at the end of their road are more daring, but they can do less. There is no knowing what will distract attention and topple the diplomatic process - a war in Lebanon, the rise of Hamas, an economic crisis or an investigation that doesn't end. So it is important to act quickly and not wait for the last minute.

But Obama is above all a politician and pragmatist trying to succeed where it is possible to succeed, and not only to advance elevated ideas. His supporters from the ideological American left, who accompanied him during the campaign, have been kept out of senior positions in his administration.

The expectation that in the three weeks between his inauguration and the Israeli elections Obama will present a peace plan that will convince the Israelis to vote for "Tzipi and not Bibi" seems unrealistic and contrary to the way he has conducted himself until now.

Obama wants peace, but he also reads public opinion polls. If the trend of the strengthening of the right and the rise of Benjamin Netanyahu continues in Israel, he will not risk public support for a loser. After the elections the administration will have to work with the winner; his challenge will be to persuade Netanyahu to act pragmatically and not get into a pointless ideological wrangle with him. And this challenge pales beside the challenge of finding a Palestinian leader reliable and strong enough to sign an agreement and implement it.
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  1.   Merely "Symbolic" Implementation of "Right of Return"? 07:33  |  Ben Israel 26/11/08
  2.   Pardon? Bibi Wants Peace but who wants peace with Israel? 08:50  |  Baruch Gold 26/11/08
  3.   And what about Hamas and the P.A. 09:12  |  Zev 26/11/08
  4.   Obama`s Job - convince arabs to compromize and be tolerant! 09:16  |  Dr Eric 26/11/08
  5.   Obama will not really need "pursuation" 09:22  |  Natallie Durson 26/11/08
  6.   Why should Obama waste 4 years on Bibi? 09:29  |  Rowan Berkeley 26/11/08
  7.   Leader Obama or "puppet" Obama.....???? 09:31  |  Swiss (Dino) 26/11/08
  8.   The election of Netanyahu will be a clear sign 09:58  |  Mark Lincoln 26/11/08
  9.   Amercian soldiers dying for Israel . How disgusting. 10:12  |  Amercian 26/11/08
  10.   To mark lincoln - voting Bibi clear sign ...!! 10:31  |  Dr Eric 26/11/08
  11.   OBAMA WILL ACT QUICKLY 10:46  |  indrajaya 26/11/08
  12.   Aluf Ben, are you inadvertently electioneering for Bibi? 11:06  |  Esther 26/11/08
  13.   OBAMAS Job is to get Hamas to agree to Peace in English & Arabic 11:17  |  PETER SM 26/11/08
  14.   Go on - offer more and more - they won`t take it yet 11:32  |  x-ray 26/11/08
  15.   "American" (Ahmed) Americans have never died for Israel 11:34  |  x-ray 26/11/08
  16.   Mark Lincoln you don`t understand Hebrew signs 11:43  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 26/11/08
  17.   "AMERICAN" US soldiers die for Moslems Jews do their own fighting 11:48  |  PETER SM 26/11/08
  18.   bEKLY He does not need to waste 1 minute.Hamas says NO Peace 11:51  |  PETER SM 26/11/08
  19.   BERKELY Obamas does not have to waste 1 min.Hamas says no Peace 12:14  |  PETER SM 26/11/08
  20.   # 13 "Meretz-Margie" voting for "Bibi" this time....??? 12:17  |  Swiss (Dino) 26/11/08
  21.   Re Ben Israel 12:25  |  Steve J 26/11/08
  22.   Re Peter Sm 12:38  |  Steve J 26/11/08
  23.   More Judenratish Peace Delusions from Mr Benn 12:50  |  yehuda 26/11/08
  24.   "Peace" is a wolf in sheep`s clothing 13:15  |  lady from USA 26/11/08
  25.   STEVE J Does Arab revenge killing for Damour ring your bells? 13:58  |  PETER SM 26/11/08
  26.   Steve J 13:59  |  lady from USA 26/11/08
  27.   Land for peace 14:03  |  lady from USA 26/11/08
  28.   right of return for peace 14:05  |  lady from USA 26/11/08
  29.   WHEN AM I GOING TO HEAR THE WORDS 14:24  |  victor hardman 26/11/08
  30.   Re lady 15:10  |  Steve J 26/11/08
  31.   Peter i think you missed my point 15:21  |  Steve J 26/11/08
  32.   Re 27 Lady 15:23  |  Steve J 26/11/08
  33.   # 29, VICTOR HARDMAN "MANDATED IN 1922" HARRIS 16:14  |  indrajaya 26/11/08
  34.   #6 Rowan in England 17:21  |  John Allen 26/11/08
  35.   "Dino" read my message again 17:31  |  Margie im Meretz 26/11/08
  36.   Not at all, it has nothing to do with Hebrew Margie 18:13  |  Mark Lincoln 26/11/08
  37.   ML 18:25  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 26/11/08
  38.   Netanyahu: Last PM to Reach Signed Accords with Pals 18:26  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 26/11/08
  39.   Swiss (Dino) and Obama 18:30  |  David Israel 26/11/08
  40.   In your bible - lady from USA 18:30  |  Mark Lincoln 26/11/08
  41.   so called American 18:34  |  David Israel 26/11/08
  42.   Tough love. 19:34  |  Lou Medel 26/11/08
  43.   P.S. No Peace, No Money, Nada,Zilch,Capis? 19:36  |  Lou Medel 26/11/08
  44.   peace is within reach... 20:00  |  RobertK 26/11/08
  45.   I understand Margie 20:29  |  Mark Lincoln 26/11/08
  46.   # 39 David Israel 21:06  |  Swiss (Dino) 26/11/08
  47.   Challeges 21:19  |  Dave Duncan 26/11/08
  48.   Bibi`s challenge to say oil has become a curse for the Arb world 21:22  |  Genuine Tosefta 26/11/08
  49.   Aluf Ben is the typically arrogant Israeli 21:41  |  michael nathanson 26/11/08
  50.   Reply to #1 - Spot On ( Benn`s Baloney) 21:43  |  Tod Zuckerman 26/11/08
  51.   Whom is the warring party? 21:56  |  Elimelech 26/11/08
  52.   Swiss (Dino) yes I learned something 22:12  |  David Israel 26/11/08
  53.   Bibi`s challenge to say oil has become a curse for the Arbs (2) 22:15  |  Genuine Tosefta 26/11/08
  54.   Margie 22:22  |  janet 26/11/08
  55.   ML about Obama 22:27  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 26/11/08
  56.   Broken Record, Dino 22:34  |  JP 26/11/08
  57.   # 56 JP and the "reactionary forces"...... 23:44  |  Swiss (Dino) 26/11/08
  58.   Swiss (Dino) to JP #57 00:54  |  David Israel 27/11/08
  59.   # 52 David Israel (2nd try), why do you keep on with the lie.... 01:00  |  Swiss (Dino) 27/11/08
  60.   WE NEED NETANYAHU NOW ! LIVNI IS A DEFEATIST. 02:00  |  ROGER TOPPER 27/11/08
  61.   #54 Margie 02:37  |  John Allen 27/11/08
  62.   Biby , as all othere want peace , but not 02:49  |  TOMY 27/11/08
  63.   Obama Cabinet 03:21  |  Agence France-Presse 27/11/08
  64.   Once again, PM Olmert`s peace proposal very promising.... 04:43  |  Smadar 27/11/08
  65.   Margie - I see complexities 05:00  |  Mark Lincoln 27/11/08
  66.   Once Iran becomes nuclear, Bibi will become a peace dove 07:04  |  Aounist 27/11/08
  67.   Obama, the AIPAC land pirates are not America`s friends 08:09  |  Ivar 27/11/08
  68.   Swiss (Dino) No lies - your own words 2nd try 21:06  |  David Israel 27/11/08
  69.   I don`t care how Israel handles the Palestinian problem 10:51  |  American tax-payer 28/11/08
 Read & React
Indian commandos storm Mumbai Chabad center; heavy gunfire, blasts heard
Responses: 19
ANALYSIS / Is Al-Qaida behind the Mumbai terror attacks?
Responses: 39
Roni Bart: Obama only makes demands of Israel, not the Palestinians
Responses: 8
Anshel Pfeffer: U.S. Jews jealous of Israelis who don't have to grapple with Jewish identity
Responses: 16


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