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Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Barriers to Peace

(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) David Pollock - Now is precisely the wrong time to put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict near the top of our foreign policy priorities. Certain current ideas about doing precisely that carry a very real risk of doing more harm than good. Such well-intentioned but actually self-defeating ideas include supporting multilateral diplomatic maneuvers like the French initiative, or a new UN Security Council resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, or proclaiming a new set of unilateral American ideas or "parameters" about a two-state solution. Multilateral diplomatic maneuvers, whether in Paris or at the UN, by definition encourage one or both parties to imagine that they can somehow avoid making compromises and ultimately peace with each other. It is also a matter of avoiding responsibility for the indispensable compromises that would make real peace possible. That is why the Palestinian Authority has become so enamored of this path. Multilateral initiatives of this kind are not "better than nothing" because they actually help prevent rather than promote peace. Until there is a clear demonstration by the parties that they are ready for real bargaining, the multilateral route risks hardening positions, raising false expectations, and repeating failure. The writer, a Fellow at The Washington Institute, testified before the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs on July 6.
2016-07-08 00:00:00
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