In April the King of Jordan flew to Washington DC to meet with President Obama. The hot subject matter; peace in the ME, Israel, Palestine. Early May the Pope flies to Jordan and breaking with precedent, HRH King Abdullah greets him at the airport and holds private meetings. On 10 May, the Pope flies to Israel to meet with Netanyahu, Israel’s new PM of a shaky coalition. In Mid May Obama flies to Egypt to meet with President Mubarak.
In April and May the US President’s Chief of Staff Rahn Emanuel, has been making some clear and concise, and very public statements about the future of the “two state” solution for the West Bank and Palestine. These statements do not harmonise with the new Israeli Government and their views on things generally and specifically in the West Bank and Palestine. The new US Administration has been discouraging an earlier meeting with Israel for several reasons, the new Israeli Government took some time to form as a fragile coalition as it is, and for Netanyahu to piece together a policy regarding Palestine. They have now emerged as having “no policy”. They want the status quo to prevail which, as all thinking people will tell you, is just NOT on. A solution is sorely needed and the only solution is a two state policy and Israel MUST agree to it and make some positive steps towards implementing it and with some degree of haste. So the Obama administration has delayed a meeting between Obama and Netanyahu until the behind the scenes diplomacy has had a chance to work and believe me, “it is being worked….” From King Abdullah, the Pope, President Mubarak, Obama (I would also like to add Tony Blair but he seems invisible in his diplomatic role such that his presence is not being felt or is impotent in the role given his past failures and alliances with the Bush regime). Let it be said that BEFORE Obama meets with Netanyahu, some concrete pieces of the puzzle needs to be put in place and so far, there is no firm date for a meeting. Obama will soon go to Egypt and it seems everyone is putting in a large effort to come up with a stable peace plan for the ME and all the odds are lining up against Israel politically. The only stalwart, recalcitrant player here is Israel who NEED to align themselves with a policy that paves the way to real changes on the subject and not the same old roadmap bullshit emmanating from the Bush regime for the past eight years!
The USA funds Israel to the tune of between USD 2-3 billion per year and this year like every other year, the Israel budget is in deep deficit, and maybe this time Israel should NOT expect the USA to just give them money again, especially if they fail to endorse a program leading to a two state solution and to end this conflict with Israel’s neighbours. King Abdullah has been doing an exemplary job as a peace advocate visiting President Assad in Syria and Lebanon and others to try to bring this to an amicable conclusion. Surely the ONLY recidivist, recalcitrant player is Israel. If this can be pulled off; King Abdullah deserves the Peace Prize for his valient effort, but lets not jump to the last page in the book yet. There is much to be done first and Netanyahu needs to be read the riot act by President Obama and Israel MUST agree to long term, sustainable changes in the region to ensure the long term survivability of Israel. When you look at a map of the region and you look at all that has gone on since 1947, you can ask what is the common denominator here? What, or whom is the recalcitrant player here; the answer is abundantly clear, the problem is, none other than Israel.
