Israel Matzav

Shelley Berkley: Don't ignore what the 'Palestinians' say

The weekend JPost included an interview with Representative Shelley Berkley (D-Nev) who was visiting here last week with a Democratic congressional delegation. I've said before that I believe that Berkley is a straight shooter. I want to highlight three things she said in the interview. None of them should be earth-shattering to a supporter of Israel, but to hear them said by someone who claims to be a supporter of President Obama indicates that he's not going to have as easy a time as he might think in trying to impose a 'peace plan' on us.

Thing 1 (Can you tell I've read Dr. Seuss):

"I am quite disappointed in Abu Mazen, I always have been," said Berkley, a day before meeting him. "I think he has it within his power to bring a peaceful resolution to this issue, to create a state for the Palestinian people, to move forward to a brighter future for Palestinian children.

"And yet, year after year we seem to be stuck in the same situation, and I think he has done very little over the years in preparing his own people for peace," she said, pointing to this week's Fatah conference in Bethlehem as an example.

"Are we still hurling accusations against the Israelis that they are somehow responsible for the death of Yasser Arafat?" she asked. "Isn't that somewhat counterproductive to moving forward toward peace?"

Berkley said she raised this issue in a meeting her delegation had with US Gen. Keith Dayton, who advised the group not to pay too much attention to what was being said at Fatah's "political convention." Berkley told Dayton she remembered the heady days of the Oslo Accords, when Arafat would say what the US and Europeans wanted to hear in English, but then repeated "the usual anti-Israel, anti-Semitic rants to his own people."

Back then, she said, "administration and State Department officials said the exact same thing: Don't pay any attention to what Arafat is saying; we know what he has to say in order to survive; we know what he really feels. But we didn't, we really miscalculated that. I think words are very powerful; they have meaning."

Asked what Dayton's reply was, she let out a belly laugh and replied, "He said that was a good question."

Thing 2:

"I believe Israel has given up a great deal over the years for peace," Berkley said. "It gave up the Sinai to have peace with Egypt. It withdrew from Lebanon and got Hizbullah. It unilaterally left Gaza. So to suggest that natural growth in the settlements is the cause for Palestinian inaction is, I think, absurd. There is nothing in history to demonstrate that if all the settlements went away tomorrow, the Arabs would then be any more willing to recognize Israel's right to exist."

She went even one step further and, amid all the reports of no support at all in Congress for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on the settlement issue, actually admitted that she supported natural growth there, saying it was "appropriate" to ensure normal life in settlements near the Green Line that would remain part of Israel in any agreement.

Thing 3:

"I'm a second generation American, and grew up in a Jewish household," said Berkley, who was born in New York but moved to Las Vegas with her family when she was in junior high school. "My mother was an ardent Zionist, and I didn't need an organization telling me about the importance of Israel's survival. While I know that the Jewish people are a people of the Diaspora, I believe that our survival and our strength very much comes from the survival and strength of Israel. This is personal to me."

So personal, in fact, that she bristled at the thought that the US, as State Department spokesman Robert Wood intimated last month, might at some point use economic sanctions as leverage against the Netanyahu government.

Berkley said that soon after Wood said it was "premature" to talk about placing financial sanctions on Israel to get it to stop building beyond the Green Line, she called House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Howard Berman to complain. Berman, she said, assured her that he would speak to the administration about the matter.

It is not premature to discuss sanctions, she said, "it is beyond the pale for the US to even suggest economic sanctions against Israel." In fact, she added, "I can't imagine a scenario where the administration would even suggest this."

Shelley Berkley almost (she might still think peace is possible in our times) gets it. Barack Obama does not. Shelley Berkley is right: Words matter. Enough said.

Shelley Berkley is right: If all the 'settlements' went away tomorrow, there would still be no peace. The conflict is existential (and her words about Congressional support for 'natural growth' in the 'settlements' are reassuring, since thus far no one on the Democratic side of the aisle has been willing to cross Obama on that issue).

Shelley Berkley ought to be right: Sanctions against Israel should be beyond the pale. But with the Obama administration in office, I'm not convinced that's the case.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:17 PM