Israel's Borders: The Wrong Fight for Obama
Veteran US Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller on Obama's Middle East speech. It was "dumb."
To pick a fight with the Israelis on the eve of the visit of an Israeli prime minister with whom you don't have a relationship (but who you need if you want to get anywhere on the peace process) is dumb; to put out June 1967 lines without any backgrounding after the speech is dumb; to take a position in non-existent negotiations and identify your position as a would-be mediator is dumb; and to send a message to the Palestinians that "you really have me sacred [sic] about your virtual statehood initiative so maybe I'll identify my position on Jerusalem next" is dumb.
The smarter play would have been running silent and deep now, not loud and noisy. Don't give a peace process speech now; keep your powder dry and options open.
Tell Netanyahu: "We have a problem in September; we need to head it off. If we can't get something from you to use with Abbas to do that, then I'll stand with you against any U.N. initiaitive and negotiations with Hamas, but I may also need to lay out my vision of an endgame that can be realized only through negotiations as a counter to unilateral and virtual statehood. And I'll do so at a time and place of my choosing, neither to embarrass you on the eve of your visit to Washington nor at the tail end of an important speech on the Arab Spring/Winter that's now been completely overshadowed by the June 1967 borders (with swaps), the details of which that maybe a hundred people really understand."
Right now the president has gotten the worst of all worlds: He's pissed off the Israelis, failed to satisfy and preempt Palestinians from their initiative and given the Republicans a ready-made issue to hammer him. And for what? Applause from the Europeans at the G-8? That's not smart.
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