Obama’s next move
President Obama has all but declared “Mission Accomplished” on the Iran nuclear agreement, although it is still nothing more than an empty framework. Many people think it is deeply flawed, and one in which Obama was too eager to give away the store by presenting Iran with an open road to develop nuclear weapons in the near future, without any substantive concessions.
Obama is now free to tackle his next major agenda item, that of the Israeli-Palestinian two-state “solution.” (He has already fired off his first salvo by trying to neutralize Sen. Robert Menendez, who is very supportive of Israel.) Judging from past performances, it is easy to see how the negotiations will go. The administration will side completely with the Palestinians; will put intense pressure on Israel and Netanyahu to make all the major concessions; will ask nothing in return from the Hamas/ PA coalition; will constantly criticize the Israelis; and blame Netanyahu for any breakdowns in the “peace process.” With the help of other world powers and the liberal media, he will ram through some sort of vaguely worded agreement, which is open to varying interpretations. However, it will generally be detrimental to Israeli security and interests, while requiring no major commitments from the Palestinians. Obama will then declare it another “historic accomplishment” and, after taking a victory lap, will begin working on his Nobel Peace Prize speech.
As someone, possibly Golda Meir, said a long time ago, “An Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is one in which Israel agrees to give territory back to the Palestinians and the Palestinians agree to accept them.” Not much has changed since then.
Max Wisotsky
Highland Park
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