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Photo: Reuters
Obama and Abbas
Photo: Reuters

Obama-style Orientalism

US administration’s approach sure to lead to another Mideastern clash

If Barack Obama, the “world’s policeman,” is unfamiliar with the Israeli film The Policeman, his Israeli advisor Rahm Emanuel would do well to tell him about one unforgettable scene from Ephraim Kishon’s Oscar-nominated movie: Officer Azoulay “fighting” pedestrians who fail to cross the street at crosswalks and moped drivers who park illegally – he reports to police headquarters that “everything is under control,” while terrible robberies take place right behind his back.

 

And now, to the moral of the story: North Korea is challenging America on the nuclear front, while Pakistan’s nukes are about to fall into hostile hands. Iran’s Ahmadinejad constantly provokes the West and threatens to eliminate Israel. Obama’s PR team is looking for a way to market the withdrawal from the divided and bleeding Iraq as an achievement of creating a new democracy, and the Taliban in Afghanistan – which was ostensibly “defeated” by the US – is suddenly alive and kicking again.

 

Yet despite all this, policeman Azoulay-Obama is preoccupied with the “obstacle for peace in the Middle East,” demanding that Netanyahu curb settlement activity and remove illegal outposts. In exchange for this, Obama demands that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas put an end to Palestinian incitement… If this is the innovative and creative approach promised to dwellers of the Middle East by Obama’s advisors and Mideast experts, we shall soon be longing for the bad old times.

 

Only four months after being sworn in, the Free World’s leader is again embarking on a predetermined American collision course. Obama chooses to walk the same path as his predecessors in the White House, while using the same terms and statements and adopting the same static and dull way of thinking.

 

The US, and only the US, is responsible for the fact that initiatives to advance peace in our region have reached a dead-end. For years now, various American leaders have endorsed a patronizing approach, premised on assessments which Palestinian Academician Edward Said dubbed “Orientalism” in the 1970s. Today, this approach is summed up by the statement: “Be quiet, we know what’s good for you.”

 

Moreover, for years now, several US secretaries of state have been held captive by several “moderate” Arab states such as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, which have been demanding an American price tag for their “moderation.” This comes in the form of heavy pressure on Israel to grant gestures and concession to the Palestinians, based on the false expectation that the Palestinian will also “moderate” later on.

 

Not too late to change course

The rules of the game are such that Uncle Sam makes the decisions, and our region pays the price. Officials in Washington decide on our fate before heading for a weekend of fishing or skiing, while our region is consumed by fire.

 

For example, Condoleezza Rice’s inexplicable insistence to hold free and democratic elections in the Palestinian Authority, despite all the warnings she heard, created Hamastan in Gaza and the unbridgeable rift within Palestinian society; it prompted the Palestinian civil war in June 2007, and later prompted Israel to embark on Operation Cast Lead, which left victims on both sides.

 

Obama and Hillary Clinton will fail should they fail to realize that the Israeli-Palestinian situation will ultimately be resolved without any pressure. Yet if they nonetheless decide to exert pressure, reality requires that they equally press both sides.

 

For example, in exchange for outpost evacuation and a halt to settlement activity, which are cardinal and painful moves for Israel, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian National Council, and Hamas must agree to renounce the right of return, which is the true obstacle to peace. As long as the majority of the Palestinian people believe in the possibility of returning to Jaffa, Akko, Haifa, and Tel Aviv, who exactly will discuss the two-state notion with us?

 

The Obama-Clinton duo and their aides must ask themselves whether they truly don’t understand that the right of return and refugee camps is the main obstacle to peace. Are they so naïve as to think that the incitement can be addressed? Do they truly believe that Abbas wants and is able to put an end to the incitement, while he occasionally calls for the continuation of the armed struggle? Who should Abbas be reprimanding then, himself? After all, half of the people being trained by American General Dayton admitted that they endorse the armed struggle against Israel. And can Abbas even intervene in the Hamas-controlled Gaza?

 

Should the American leaders realize that their diplomatic path is flawed, and that it is still not too late to modify it, great bloodshed will be avoided. Yet should they continue down the same tortuous road their predecessors took, the next armed clash is merely a matter of time.

 

Col. (res.) Moshe Elad is a lecturer at the Western Galilee Academic College

 


פרסום ראשון: 06.02.09, 18:19
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