Oren: 'No one can force peace on us'
Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, told PBS on Saturday that no one can force Israel and the 'Palestinians' to make peace. He compared it with trying to force someone to fall in love - it cannot be done. "No. I think peace has to be made between two people sitting opposite a table. America can help facilitate that interaction. But at the end of the day, no one can force parties in any conflict in the world to make peace. It's like forcing somebody to fall in love. We have to sit down and thresh it out between us."Well, the parties on all sides may understand it, but that might not stop the US from trying to impose a 'solution' anyway. The two sides will never love or trust each other, but that's okay in Obama's book if he's willing to station US troops permanently along the green line. North and South Korea don't love each other, but they'll been on their respective sides of the line for nearly 60 years. If Obama wants to try to impose that sort of arrangement on Israel and the 'Palestinians' there is very little that can stop him.
Oren added: "If we arrive at points where we can't agree, we can't close the gap between us, then we - both the Israelis and the Palestinians as well - are willing to look at various bridging formulas."
"But America is not in a position where it's going to come in and impose a plan. I don't think that's to anybody's benefit. And I'm sure parties on all sides of this conflict understand that."
What could go wrong?
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:51 PM
3 Comments:
Israel could live with the current arrangement for decades - the Jews and Palestinians don't have to be friends. They just leave each other alone. As long as that is understood, whether or not a formal peace is ever reached is of no consequence. And Israel has a lot of tools at its disposal to make sure the other side leaves it alone. And that also goes for the Lebanese and the Syrians. You don't have to reconcile with enemies to be able to survive in the world and for half of its history Israel did just fine despite the absence of a formal peace with Egypt and Jordan.
Obama stationing troops along the Green line? I don't believe there's any chance of it happening, and if any of Obama's plans depend on this, they're DOA.
Who in the U.S. wants another military involvement in Middle East? Especially when neither side is enthusiastic about it, and "militants" may well use this as an excuse (as if they need any) to blow stuff up...
Worse, any kind of American presence which will seriously attempt to forcefully separate the unreconciled sides will eventually become similar to current IDF policies. Even if Obama does not understand this, his generals must.
IMHO, the only possible American presence is in the role of "peacekeepers" with a much reduced mandate after a real peace agreement.
Yair, I don't think Americans have an appetite for another military engagement in the Middle East after Iraq. Does the US even have a military option to deal with Iran? So all the talk of US "peacekeeping" between Israel and the Palestinians is a non-starter. There is no sign both sides are ready to trust each other much less than America and every one knows the proximity talks, if they ever do begin - will go exactly nowhere.
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