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Why Netanyahu Can't "Get to the Damn Table"
(Washington Post) Jackson Diehl - The president appears to blame Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the failure to begin negotiations, describing him - especially in private meetings - as intransigent. But his former senior Middle East adviser, Dennis Ross, had this to say this week about Netanyahu's counterpart, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen: "Abu Mazen is convinced that, with this Israeli government, he can't reach agreement. And so, because he's convinced that there's no agreement with this Israeli government, he imposes conditions on negotiations, since he's convinced negotiations will only produce failure." Of Netanyahu, Ross said: "He sees in Abu Mazen someone who looks like he runs away from negotiations, imposes conditions for negotiations that he didn't impose on Bibi's predecessors, and he puts Israel in the corner." This is a point that I, among other observers, have been trying to make since 2009: Abbas is simply unwilling to deal with Netanyahu, and his demands for Israeli concessions prior to talks - such as a settlement freeze in the West Bank and Jerusalem - are pretexts that have nothing to do with his real motives, or the real obstacles to peace. It follows that, almost regardless of concessions Netanyahu might make - such as his settlement-construction moratorium last year - Abbas will refuse to talk. So why do Obama and other senior administration officials continue to blame Netanyahu for the failure to begin negotiations? The latest shot across the Israeli bow came this month from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who bluntly advised Israel to "just get to the damn table" with Abbas. If Ross is right, why does the administration fault Netanyahu for failure to "get to the damn table?" How can he get to a table if his partner has already ruled out talking to him? According to the White House's own expert on the subject, it is Abbas who is intransigent.