Starting from the end

In the past few weeks, a number of threatening messages have arrived in Jerusalem from the White House. The U.S. president's top adviser, Rahm Emanuel, was quoted by our diplomats in Washington as having said that Obama was tired of both the Israelis and the Palestinians. Emanuel reportedly told them something to the effect that they were wasting precious time and missing the opportunity to reach peace. Eventually the United States will simply give up, stop dealing with this interminable conflict and we leave Israel alone, he reportedly said.

These worrisome warnings were also reflected in a column by the New York Times' Thomas Friedman, in which he proposed that U.S. President Barack Obama wash his hands of our conflict and follow in the footsteps of former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, who once told Israel's leaders to call the White House's switchboard once they got serious.

That kind of looks like advice for the American president to let us stew in our own juices.

It is not clear who incited whom, but there is no doubt but that these remarks indicate a tendency toward frustration and anger. The very fact that Israel, "our great allies," are mentioned in the same breath as the Palestinians, instigators of terror in the region, hints at the fact that the days of intimacy and special relations with the United States are in jeopardy.

However, although it seemed at the time that Obama's speech at Cairo University was a breakthrough and a world-embracing initiative for establishing peace in our region - it now appears to have been just hot air.

Netanyahu's speech at Bar-Ilan University was likewise made of the same stuff. And meanwhile Al Qaida's terror has once again reached America itself.

It is one thing to give advice to a country across the sea and another to give advice to a government controlled by the president.

Simultaneously, Israel is preparing for the worst. Gas masks will soon be distributed to most of the population and this week a gigantic simulation of a biological attack will take place.

What is common to both Israel and the United States is that both countries have turned their attention to self-defense against future wars instead of Obama's longed-for peace.

As someone who followed the peace talks with the Egyptians when I was Haaretz's correspondent in Washington, I wondered how the two countries that had spilled so much of each others' blood could achieve peace, especially when the leaders involved were right-winger Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat.

The truth is that the peace talks actually started from the end. They started when both of them realized that after so many wars, talking would yield the most results. In a secret meeting held by Moshe Dayan in Morocco with Sadat's close adviser, he let it be understood that in return for peace, the Egyptian president would get back everything that had been conquered.

Dayan was so keen to come to an arrangement that he persuaded Begin at the time to speak about everything, including mentioning Jerusalem. Begin was hesitant, but Dayan convinced him.

"What are negotiations?" he asked. "He will demand something and we will refuse; we will propose something and he will refuse?"

It was decided in principle that the final objective was peace, and two years of negotiations were held until a peace agreement was signed.

The Carter administration buckled down to prepare all the documents and all possible alternatives so that a basic agreement would come out of Camp David.

What will we do with the Pithat Rafiah settlements in Sinai, Ezer Weizman asked Sadat. I say burn them, came the reply.

Take note all those who are dreaming of leaving behind settlements under Palestinian sovereignty.

Egypt not merely gained prestige but also magnanimous annual aid from the Americans. Without such deep involvement on the part of Washington, would it have been possible to achieve a durable peace? That is not a given.

Sadat and Begin got their Nobel Peace Prizes after signing the deal; Obama has already received his as advance payment on the basis of words alone.

There is no use in temporary arrangements that don't lead to a final objective agreed upon in advance.

A step like freezing construction in the settlements for 10 months is like giving a Band-aid to a cancer patient. Even though there is no resemblance between an agreement with the Palestinians and an agreement with an already-formed state like Egypt, it is essential to start from the end.

The Palestinians are behaving as if they have all the time in the world. They claim they were here before us, depending on how much time back they are counting.

There are people who believe that the only person among us at this time who is capable of giving up territory and moving the settlers is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who, like Begin, would enjoy massive support if he were to make concessions in return for peace.

However, nothing will move without an American plan, without a massive push, even a forced one, from Obama. We were always wary of a forced solution but it is most likely that there are greater dangers than that - the continuation of terrorism and Palestinian demographic dominance.

Instead of broadcasting to us weariness and anger, it would be better if Obama would initiate a mediation proposal or obligatory arbitration so as to achieve peace and permanent borders between the two peoples.