Soccer Dad

... or forever hold your peace

In The Palestinian Authority Struggles to Sabotage Any Chance for Peace, Barry Rubin observes:

And here, too, is the PA openly thwarting President Barack Obama, who publicly bristles at the tiniest Israeli disagreement, yet seems to accept this disrespect without demur.

And it's not just President Obama.

Roger Cohen:

No American definition of what such trust-undermining acts might be was offered, which is why Erekat pressed Mitchell in their meeting last Friday on what would constitute "provocative actions" by Israel.

But it seems clear that any reprise of the Ramat Shlomo debacle, which infuriated Obama, would meet American criteria. The bottom line to Israel is: Hold the building, hold the tenders and hold any other provocations while Mitchell shuttles.

Thomas Friedman:

President Obama was 100 percent right to call out Israel on its settlement expansion, which undermines the opportunities inherent in this moment.

Both, of course, have been silent about Mahmoud Abbas's continuting passive aggressive approach to negotiations. Jackson Diehl, to his credit, noticed back in March that what Israel does or doesn't do; it's Abbas who refuses to negotiate:

That's when Rice learned another lesson the new administration seems not to have picked up: This Palestinian leadership has trouble saying "yes." Confronted with a draft deal that would have been cheered by most of the world, Abbas balked. He refused to sign on; he refused to present a counteroffer. Rice and Bush implored him to join Olmert at the White House for a summit. Olmert would present his plan to Bush, and Abbas would say only that he found it worth discussing. The Palestinian president refused.

This isn't something new.

The question is when will the Israel bashers start to acknowledge that it isn't Israel that's obstructing peace but their second favorite "moderate" Palestinian leader?

Crossposted on Yourish.