William Pfaff
Internationally speaking, there are only two subjects to talk about in the Middle East. These are Israel, the Palestinians and the Americans; and
The two subjects dominated the annual meeting here of the
The prospect of an Israeli attack upon
Adm.
Despite
In addition, and more important, the function of this contemptuous treatment of the vice president and of President Obama is meant to demonstrate to the Palestinians, and to the Arabs generally, that Likud's political blackmail of the American administration and the
The new peace initiative has Israel and the Palestinian Authority negotiating indirectly, but in "proximity," with the tireless Sen.
The actual terms of a realistic settlement have long ago been agreed by official and unofficial negotiators and been ratified by both Jewish and Palestinian populations in the course of the so-called Geneva Initiative with its recently published annexes. This agreement was privately circulated to the electorates on both sides and accepted by both. However it, too, is meaningless so long as Israeli policy remains what it is.
Two other initiatives are worth discussion. Both involve international intervention. One could be launched by the Palestinians themselves; the other involves the
These ideas eventually dominated discussion at the IMPS meeting.
The first is a version of the proposal already made by French Foreign Minister
It has recently been described in the French press by
Moisi defends this as saving Israel from itself, which - as its former foreign minister,
There nonetheless might be the ingredients of a miracle in the second proposal discussed at the
It is conceivable that the Palestinians could petition the U.N., or a permanent member of the
However there is a further consideration.
There is no veto in the
It was, after all,
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(C) 2010 William Pfaff. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Media Services.