Israel Matzav

Why bother with yet another 'peace process'?

Rick Richman explains why next week, once again, if they aren't canceled first, there will be 'final status' negotiations for 'Middle East peace.'

Why are we doing this all over again? In a perceptive analysis entitled “Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks, Again,” Stratfor’s George Friedman notes that enthusiasm among Arab allies for a Palestinian state is nil, although publicly they have to support it:

If the United States were actually to do what these countries publicly demand, the private response would be deep concern both about the reliability of the United States and about the consequences of a Palestinian state. A wave of euphoric radicalism could threaten all of these regimes. They quite like the status quo, including the part where they get to condemn the United States for maintaining it.

The U.S. solution is always another “peace process,” since it is always a public-relations opportunity, even if the underlying reality is different from the show:

The comings and goings of American diplomats, treating Palestinians as equals in negotiations and as being equally important to the United States, and the occasional photo op if some agreement is actually reached, all give the United States and pro-American Muslim governments a tool … for managing Muslim public opinion. Peace talks also give the United States the ability, on occasion, to criticize Israel publicly …. Most important, they cost the United States nothing. The United States has many diplomats available for multiple-track discussions and working groups for drawing up position papers.

There will thus be a new peace process, because the U.S. wants one — “preferably a long one designed to put off the day when it fails.”

You all know that I'm going to ask what could go wrong. The problem is that this time, there really is something that could go wrong. There's only one party that doesn't understand this is the program: The 'Palestinians.' As a result, there is at least some risk that when the talks inevitably end without a solution, we will have another 'intifadeh' on our hands.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:26 AM