Love of the Land: Here We Go Again

Here We Go Again

Rick Richman
Contentions/Commentary
08 March '10

As the Obama administration is poised to proceed with “indirect” talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the chances for success in the foreseeable future are virtually nil. The PA president (a) is in the 62nd month of his 48-month term, unable to hold (and in any event unwilling to risk) new elections; (b) heads a party still corroded by corruption; (c) governs only half the putative Palestinian state; and (d) is unable to dismantle the Iranian proxy that rules Gaza. Even if an agreement could be reached on any “core” issues, the PA would be in no position to carry it out.

As Robert Malley noted in useful testimony last week in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing:

Mahmoud Abbas is President, though his term has expired; he heads the PLO, though the Organization’s authority has long waned. Salam Fayyad, the effective and resourceful Prime Minister, cannot govern in Gaza and, in the West Bank, must govern over much of Fatah’s objection. Hamas has grown into a national and regional phenomenon, and it now has Gaza solidly in its hands. But the Islamist movement itself is at an impasse — besieged in Gaza, suppressed in the West Bank, at odds with most Arab states, with little prospect for Palestinian reconciliation. …

All of which leaves room for doubt whether the Palestinian national movement, as it currently stands, can confidently and effectively conduct negotiations for a final peace agreement, sell a putative agreement to its people, and, if popularly endorsed, make it stick.

Malley’s testimony also noted that Benjamin Netanyahu’s positions reflect a broad Israeli consensus — one that emerged after withdrawals from Lebanon and Gaza resulted in new wars and after the Palestinian Authority in 2008 rejected (yet again) an offer of a state on virtually all the West Bank after land swaps. Israel’s rejection in the new negotiations of the indefensible 1967 borders and a “right of return” will be positions that extend far beyond the Israeli right wing:

Love of the Land: Here We Go Again

Israel Matzav: J Street Advisory Council's star member: Robert Malley

J Street Advisory Council's star member: Robert Malley

At the end of a long post analyzing J Street's taking positions that preclude its being a pro-Israel organization and members of its 'advisory council' who have questionable pro-Israel credentials, Matthew M. Housman drops this bombshell:

Perhaps most telling for J Street's supposed pro-Israel credentials is the inclusion of Robert Malley on its Advisory Council. There is simply no way to construe Malley as pro-Israel or even politically neutral. The son of anti-Israel ideologue Simon Malley, the younger Malley apparently did not fall far from the tree. As a writer, he has produced articles misrepresenting fact and history regarding Israel, including a New York Times op-ed entitled, "Fictions about the Failure of Camp David," in which he blamed Israel exclusively for the failure of Clinton's attempt to coerce a deal at Camp David [the only one present to do so. CiJ]. Malley expunged or minimized Arafat's responsibility for the Camp David fiasco and the preplanned intifada that followed. He co-wrote this article with frequent collaborator and former Arafat advisor Hussein Agha, and his revisionist account contrasts sharply with the recollections of Dennis Ross and Bill Clinton [Malley and Agha co-wrote an op-ed in the New York Times this past week the arguably advocates a 'one-state solution,' although Malley denies that's what he had in mind. CiJ].

Moreover, Malley is associated with the International Crisis Group funded by George Soros, and was alleged to have served as Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, although both Malley and the President denied that he served in any official capacity. Nevertheless, he reportedly met with representatives of the Syrian and Egyptian governments and allegedly with members of Hamas (although that too was denied) despite Hamas' inclusion on the U.S. terror watch list. He is also well known as an apologist for Hamas and Hezbollah, with whom he advocates dialogue despite their continued pledges to eradicate Israel; and has been criticized for actively seeking to weaken America's relationship with Israel.

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Israel Matzav: J Street Advisory Council's star member: Robert Malley

Israel Matzav: Malley: 'I still favor a two-state solution'

Malley: 'I still favor a two-state solution'

In Tuesday's New York Times, Robert Malley (the only man to attend Camp David 2000 and blame Ehud Barak for its failure) and Hussein Agha wrote that a two-state solution 'doesn't resolve anything,' leading many to believe that they were advocating a one-state solution.

That so many attempts to resolve the conflict have failed is reason to be wary. It is almost as if the parties, whenever they inch toward an artful compromise over the realities of the present, are inexorably drawn back to the ghosts of the past. It is hard today to imagine a resolution that does not entail two states. But two states may not be a true resolution if the roots of this clash are ignored. The ultimate territorial outcome almost certainly will be found within the borders of 1967. To be sustainable, it will need to grapple with matters left over since 1948. The first step will be to recognize that in the hearts and minds of Israelis and Palestinians, the fundamental question is not about the details of an apparently practical solution. It is an existential struggle between two worldviews.

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Israel Matzav: Malley: 'I still favor a two-state solution'