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Diplomatic Storms Spread Fears of Fallout

(Washington Times) Joel Mowbray - The administration's amped-up rhetoric has done real harm to the "peace process" by damaging the trust with the Israeli government, while also giving Palestinians a much-desired excuse to back out of the planned "proximity talks." More important, the fixation and verbal assault on Israel's zoning announcement could send precisely the wrong signals to the Arab world about the importance of thwarting Iran's nuclear ambitions. It was not lost on Israeli officials that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went against the wishes of his own coalition government earlier this year in accepting a 10-month freeze on all development in the West Bank, which even Mrs. Clinton at the time recognized as a major step forward. Jerusalem was not included in the freeze, however. The Israeli government will be leery of acceding to any U.S. demands, believing that whatever compromises might be struck could be rendered meaningless as soon as President Obama becomes angry again. No matter how many applause lines Mrs. Clinton delivers at AIPAC next week, the damage of the past week cannot and will not be undone in a single speech. If the fallout is limited to setting back progress on talks that likely wouldn't have yielded much anyway, then Israel will consider itself lucky.
2010-03-19 10:30:20
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