The Annapolis conference: Doomed?
At the end of the month, the city of Annapolis, Maryland, will host a U.S.-brokered meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Syria is reportedly mulling attendance–conditioned on discussions including the return of the Golan Heights.
Those who remember history are not optimistic about the summit’s prospects. The word “folly” keeps cropping up. And this satirical summit invitation is making the rounds (click on image for full size):
Sadly, diplomatic amnesia has descended on Washington once again.
And while I, of course, favor a two-state peace solution between Israel and the Palestinians, for now I find myself agreeing more with Hamas than with Condoleezza Rice — at least in believing that the planned peace conference set for Annapolis in the near future is a waste of time, and could lead to more bloodshed.
The notion of the U.S. sponsoring peace talks to hammer out a settlement between the Palestinians and Israelis by smoothing over their deep differences with carefully chosen phrases rather than smartly crafted solutions, and pushing off the toughest decisions for the end of the talks, should have ended with the failure of Oslo.
At the outset of that painful process, in the summer of 1993, when President Clinton engineered the handshake on the White House lawn between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin and Palestinian Authority President Yasir Arafat, there was a naïve sense that Arafat really wanted peace more than he wanted to see, and oversee, the destruction of the Jewish state. But the sad fact, as we came to learn after a period of bloody suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli women and children, was that Arafat was a liar and calculated murderer who was not prepared to take even the most basic steps toward fulfilling the promises he made — namely to seek to stop the violence against Israel.
I recall hearing Shimon Peres dismissing Arafat’s two-faced behavior of calling for peace in English to the Western world and preaching jihad in Arabic to the Arab world by insisting, “give the man his rhetoric.” And some of us took Peres’ advice, leading with our hearts rather than our heads, wanting so much to believe that peace was possible that we denied the realities around us, like the constant demonization of Jews in the Palestinian press and textbooks as well as on television and by the imams in the mosques.
In the end, reality caught up to fantasy, and when Arafat was caught trying to smuggle arms in by sea, and openly lying about it, even officials in Washington had to acknowledge that the game was up.
Now we hear that of course Oslo was doomed because Arafat was a thug, but that things are different because Mahmoud Abbas, his successor as Palestinian Authority president, is a reasonable and civilized man who speaks out against terror. That may be true, but he is also a weak leader who has been unable or unwilling to take on the more militant factions of Fatah, which he heads, not to mention his failure in confronting Hamas, which now controls Gaza.
And while Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has endorsed fully the planned peace talks set for Annapolis in the near future, he, too, is a weak leader at home.
At least part of the reason why there have not been more loud reservations expressed in Israel about tackling the final-status issues of Jerusalem, borders, settlements and refugees is that few take the Annapolis talks seriously enough at this point.
A leading Israeli official told me recently that “Annapolis can’t succeed,” but he shrugged his shoulders when asked why the Olmert government would proceed if that was the case. “If the U.S. wants it, what can we do?”
Meanwhile, there’s lots of secretive and strange behavior at the State Department on disclosing any details about the upcoming event:
Just two weeks before an international Middle East conference in Annapolis, Washington has the world guessing about a gathering aimed at jumpstarting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Officials have not yet announced the conference’s exact date, its duration, described the level of representation or released an agenda, sowing doubts about its prospects and causing confusion among Washington’s allies.
American, Israeli and European diplomatic sources have all said that the full conference will be held on Tuesday, November 27, following a dinner the previous evening.
But US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack refused again Wednesday to announce a date.
“We may have a date, but I’m not prepared to share it yet,” he said, triggering laughter. “I’m not going to make any announcements about the Annapolis meeting. Invitations have not yet gone out.”
McCormack refused to say why the government of US President George W. Bush, which in July announced plans for an Middle East conference in the autumn, was keeping details secret and risking the impression it was badly prepared.
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- OpinionBug.com » New Jewish Congress Summit Set For 27 November 2007
- fugitive peace » Blog Archive » Countdown to Annapolis - 4
- Tel-Chai Nation
- Michelle Malkin » Is the Annapolis summit crumbling?
- Michelle Malkin » The Annapolis folly, continued
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This won’t work.
Keep those Muslim murderers out of my state.
Politics today is the equivalent of a grade school play. The only difference is the characters are all played by buffoons and are improvising as they go along. There is no story plot and the lead, Nancy Pelosi, has blown her lines so badly her vain changing of hair styles has failed to distract the viewers from booing.
There are some things that should never be given up. For Israel, the Golan Heights is one of those things. Water supply, watch towers, and — dog-gone-it — it’s theirs.
Enough pandering to the demands of those who extort land for violence (err, peace)!
When will enough be enough? When will it ever be time to just take action??
Until Abbas and the PA, Hamas,and Hezbollah, denounce terrorism and recognize Israel’s right to exist this is a waste of time and energy. One of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
What in the hell are we doing???
Islam will not stop until they have all of Isreal. This aggression against Isreal has been since the very beginning. Between Ishmael and Isaac the sons of Abraham, servant of the Most High God, who was promised that his descedents from Isaac would have the Promised Land.
And, Modern Day Isreal has won the Land fair and square in my book. The spoils of War.. Guaranteed if the Neighbors of Isreal had won they wouldn’t be expected to give it back, period.
Enough of this stupidity.
Dry Bones Blog cartoons have it right. Olmert is
so weak that he won’t stand up to anyone and Jimmy
Carter is so credulous that he will believe anything
anyone (other than a conservative) tells him that lying
to him isn’t even fun. You cannot have peace when there is such ingrained eons long hatred. War is the
major employer in Palestine and they so hate the Jews
that when they cleared out, everything…houses, green
houses, etc were all destroyed because the terror
groups did not want the Palestinian people to use
anything belonging to the Jews. What they really did
not want was for the people to get ahead because
then they just might discover that the terrorists
weren’t their saviors after all.
I absolutely wish for peace in the middle East but I
doubt that it will ever happen because no matter
what you do, the gap between the haves and have
nots is so great that there will always be cannon
fodder to be used by terrorists.
Condi Rice has it right. This is not going to change
a thing and trying to get them to Annapolis is a
waste of time.
Agreed.
This is insanity - on our part, as well as Israel’s.
Yet again:
One can NOT “negotiate” with a rabid tiger.
One can only kill it, cage it permanently, or weaken it permanently.
But, negotiate?
Puh-leeeeeze.
“Palestinian” and Syrian leaders should most defininetly be invited here, and then arrested.
Just recently, Olmert demanded that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state in accordance with the original UN partition resolution of 1947 as a prerequisite for success at the conference. The Palestinians have balked. Something tells me that this is going to end like so many other outside-initiated peace processes and Condoleezza Rice will be denied her Ralph Bunche moment.
Jump starting? The first words at this Conference in the opening address is “CLEAR!!!”
News to me. I thought this was Condi’s baby.
Condi should’ve read Jeanne Kirkpatrick’s files. Kirkpatrick’s intellect was searing and her actions at the UN were even more so. Condi suffers from “analysis paralysis academicus”.
Permit me, please, to add: tried and executed.
Seems to me that the Palestinians already have a state and it’s called Jordan. The two state solution is solved.
About the only reason to go to Annapolis is to eat crabs. But I thought they didn’t qualify as either kosher or halal. Am I wrong?
snowball . . . hell.
Why do we continue to stick our noses in this business? Isreal has U.S. weaponry, including nukes, so what do we bring to the table?
The U.S. needs to get out of Isreal’s way and let them deal with the terrorists. They do a pretty good job of it. We can always step in if other countries intrude.
Why does every administration think that peace between Israel and the paleostinians should be their legacy?
Why can’t the legacy be something more along the lines of “My administration set up additional protection for Israel from the arabs”. Build more fencing, set out land mines, modernize weapon systems and prepare for the next round of fighting. That would be a legacy.
Of course we can’t even get GW to put up a fence to protect this country.
bear1909
Completely OT; Did I hear you say on another thread that your daddy maintains a section of the Appalachian Trail out in the Blue Ridge? If so, does he need any help controlling the deer or wild turkey population out there?
I assume Nancy Pelosi and her scarf have been invited?
#7 - uhangtight..thanks. I was just going to write that they have been fighting over this very dirt for a long long time (almost 4000 years). If what had been commanded had been done when coming into the promised land (clear the land completely) I’m sure none of this would be taking place today. But since that isn’t what happened, the fighting will continue. Maybe not all of the individual battles and details, but in general, it’s all been prophesied and it’s exciting to see it unfolding.
Good point, well said, walterc. It would certainly be more realistic and lasting.
I agree with the two state solution. There already are two states: Israel and Jordan.
There was not, is not, and will not be a “Palestine” unless Jordan changes its name.
The ONLY solution to this is for Israel to annex Judea and Samaria and “help” the Arabs west of the Jordan to relocate to their state across the Jordan river.
Anything else is suicide for Israel, and the Israeli people will not stand for it. Transfer now!
Bush should give Iraq to Israel to form Greater Israel. After we have made it safe for the Israelis of course so they don’t have to take any casualties.
Doomed? Yes, we are for helping a terrorist state to be born.
This is just more kabuki theater. No rational person alive believes that there is a potential for “peace” between the death cult called Islam and the rest of the free world. Israel is simply the whipping boy. This is all mere pretense.
Until the Palestinians stop killing each other off over the Hamas vs. Fatah factions I can’t see how they can possibly be prepared to stand up as a separate state.
I haven’t heard him mention that so far in the past 10 years he’s been out there doin the work. Them Virginians in the region are pretty skillful at that sort of thing when it comes to wildlife management.
I will check for you this weekend when during our regular sunday chat.
How’s that?
Much appreciated.
I think this is an exercise in futility but the “Invitation” is clever.
There will never be peace between Israel and Its Islamic neighbors, even the peace between Israel and Egypt is temporary. There will never be peace until the Lord returns or that 3.5 yr peace brought by the anti-christ. Attaining peace there will be a waste of time and history proves it. Besides the Muslims say they will not quit until Israel is finished. If a native american on a reservation can figure that out why can’t the powers of the world figure that out?
That’s one of the dumbest comments I’ve seen here. You just made a genius out of Joe Biden. Congratulations.
Greater Isreal? Are you reciting the Hamas Charter, and if so , why?
Is this your source for a “Greater Israel”?
Why does your attitude toward Israel seem to parallel the Hamas Charter?
We have here a tinfoil hatter who has a belief that the evil jew-neocons are running the Pentagon for Israel’s benefit, and to America’s detriment.
I’m so tired of this stupid, insulting, racist nonsense. Bush should give Iraq to Israel. Do you even realize how completely nuts you sound to other people here who know what is going on in the world?
Israel is a free parliamentary democracy, and a long time security partner of the United States. This will not be changing anytime soon, despite your obvious desire to allow the savages in Hamas to bring about “Holocost II: This time it’s personal“.
This kind of talk does nothing but expose your sickening disregard for a people, a nation that are inextricably linked with America in the history of freedom.
When I see the episode of Band of Brothers
where Easy Company 101st Airborne liberates the first of many Nazi deathcamps in Germany, I’m at once appalled by the suffering of the Jews of Europe in WWII, and very proud that Americans unlocked that gate.
I thought the world said never again after WWII would this be allowed to happen to fellow human beings. I suppose from your comments, Alphonse, that you do not share that sentiment.
It’s the same stuff all over again. Typical politics when solutions are impossible. Gather them together, exchange pleasantries, shake hands for the cameras, announce that “progress” has been made, then go home and wait to see if they win the Nobel peace prize.
Why is our leadership once again bullying Israel into sitting down with representatives of a nation that is part of the overall grand Muslim plan to annihilate Israel - and then to annihilate the United States? And who says Abbas is not a thug? Ha! He’s the protege of Arafat, the butcher himself. Abbas wears a suit and tie, like the wolf dressed in sheepskin.
It’s just plain incompetence. Dr. Rice’s tenure has been nothing short of a complete disaster at the State Department.
James Baker, the failed secretary of state under the first Bush, was bragging on the radio the other day how it was important to talk to Assad because he (Baker) had made 17 trips to Syria before he “succeeded” in getting Haffez El Assad to attend the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991. Baker saw this as a huge success in itself. The guy interviewing Baker didn’t ask him the obvious question: “What the heck did you accomplish at Madrid?”. In fact at Madrid the Syrian foreign minister would not engage the Israeli side in a one on one discussion. Instead, he held up a 45 years old photo of then PM Shamir and said that Shamir “was a terrorist who was wanted by the British authorities”. And the share size of so many Arab delegations at Madrid insured that the Arab hard line no recognition of Israel position would prevail. So Baker’s alleged great triumph was a complete failure. Clinton thought if he gave everything away to Arafat at Camp David in exchange for a few ambiguous words from Arafat (to be stated in English, not in Arabic) would lead to a grand peace in the MiddleEast. Arafat viewed Clinton as a latter day Neville Chamberlain and accepted all the Clintonian concessions and then said: “I want more”. Expect the same thing as Annapolis.