Five Years After Arafat, No Peace in Sight

Watch the sad Associated Press video above covering commemorations of the death five years ago of Palestine Liberation Organization head Yassar Arafat. There’s Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reiterating his refusal to deal with the Israeli government until it halts settlements and his intention to resign from the January 24 Palestinian elections. That’s not the really sad part – keep watching to see the Clinton-era tripartite smiles and handshakes as the last serious peace process began – in 1993.

If anyone expected fireworks or valentines in Washington this week as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (a presidential stand-in) addressed the Jewish Federations of North America, they were disappointed. The speeches followed well-established party lines. The best line of the week was uttered by the President, who was heard to say after a brief meeting with Netanyahu beforehand:

“So,” Obama announced, according to the source in the room, “we’ve decided that we are going to trade our Lieberman for their Lieberman.” [h/t Ben Smith at Politico.]

You’ve got to figure that Netanyahu – with his distinguished pedigree – realizes how demeaning it is for him to be so closely allied with his Prime Minister, Avigdor Lieberman. Maybe they were joking about Lieberman’s imminent indictment: Today, an Israeli NGO asked the attorney general’s office to expedite the case, which has been pending since August, against the former Moldovan bouncer on allegations of embezzlement and money laundering.

The joke was about the friendliest things got between Netanyahu and Obama ….. perhaps until today.  The usually very reliable Laura Rozen at Politico is reporting that President Obama is about to name a Special Envoy to monitor and combat global anti-semitism. Writes Rozen:

We’re told that the candidate is female, with Chicago connections and a lawyer or activist background, and that State was ready to announce her this week and is awaiting White House clearance to do so.

Members of the UJC/Jewish Federations of North America who met with Obama on Monday said they anticipated the announcement even Tuesday.

George W. Bush’s envoy, Dr. Gregg Rickman, left the job when the Obama administration came into office in January….

…. A top candidate seems to be Hannah Rosenthal, former head of the Jewish Council on Public Affairs and former executive director of the Chicago Foundation for Women. She has a track record of involvement in countering anti-Semitism in the international context. Rosenthal, currently community outreach director at a Wisconsin firm, was traveling and could not be immediately reached to comment.

This is an overdue move on the part of the administration and, while it’s more about domestic politics than international – at least in the short term – Obama needs to take global anti-semitism seriously. Connecting the U.S. with “our friend, our ally, Israel” – as Emanuel noted in his speech yesterday – will help Obama cultivate the more conservative and older segments of the American Jewish community – who are naturally worried about Israel’s security and have been conditioned by lobbyists to believe that settlement in the occupied territories is a good thing. [As 40% more settlers have poured into the Palestinian lands since 1993.]

Still, it’s hard to dispell the hopeless mood among MidEast watchers. It’s been nearly six months since Obama’s landmark speech in Cairo, and I’ve followed New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman’s mood swing from big-time supporter of the two-state solution to absolute disgust with the lack of action. Can’t shake the tone of latest column:

If we are still begging Israel to stop building settlements, which is so manifestly idiotic, and the Palestinians to come to negotiations, which is so manifestly in their interest, and the Saudis to just give Israel a wink, which is so manifestly pathetic, we are in the wrong place. It’s time to call a halt to this dysfunctional “peace process,” which is only damaging the Obama team’s credibility.

If the status quo is this tolerable for the parties, then I say, let them enjoy it. I just don’t want to subsidize it or anesthetize it anymore. We need to fix America. If and when they get serious, they’ll find us. And when they do, we should put a detailed U.S. plan for a two-state solution, with borders, on the table. Let’s fight about something big.

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