Obama's Misguided Approach to Peacemaking

Matthew Brooks/Matthew R.J. Brodsky
American Thinker
11 May '10

In recent days, President Obama stated that resolving the Middle East conflict was "a vital national security interest of the United States" and explained that the conflict is "costing us significantly in terms of blood and treasure," thus drawing a direct link among the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, the safety of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and U.S. efforts to gain international support for sanctions on Iran. The apparent shift as described by administration officials is behind the White House's urgent push to broker a Middle East peace deal and increases the likelihood that Obama will offer his own plan for a proposed Palestinian state.

The president's current approach to the peace process and his embrace of the linkage theory is problematic on many levels. On several occasions, Team Obama has put the onus squarely on Israel not only to prove that it is committed to peace and negotiations with the Palestinians, but also to demonstrate that it is committed to its relationship with the United States. Yet it is the Palestinian Authority that refuses to negotiate. Palestinian politics are divided between the Hamas rulers pledged to Israel's destruction in Gaza and the PA dominated by the Fatah party in the West Bank. Such political paralysis is hardly conducive to peacemaking.

Peace will come only when the Palestinian leadership accepts Israel's right to exist. But there are precious few signs of a rethinking of the PA's basic narrative and red lines. The main issue today remains not whether the Palestinian leadership will recognize Israel as a Jewish state, but whether it will recognize Israel's right to exist in any form whatsoever.

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