Soccer Dad

Damn the israelis, full speed ahead

According to the JTA (via Daily Alert Blog)

The Israeli prime minister also has a major strategic concern. According to confidants, he fears that as soon as any new 60-day freeze ends, the Americans will put a "take it or leave it peace plan" of their own on the table. With the U.S. midterm elections over, Obama might feel able to publicly present parameters for a peace deal that Netanyahu would find impossible to accept.

Israel might then find itself totally isolated and under intolerable international pressure. That is a scenario Netanyahu hopes the current negotiations with the Americans will help him avoid.

Based on a recent report (via Israel Matzav) about the diplomatic blow up in March over housing in Jerusalem, this fear does not sound so far fetched.

The following day, during a 43-minute harangue, Hillary delivered a set of ultimatums to Netanyahu. Prefacing each remark with the phrase "I have been instructed to tell you," Hillary demanded that Israel release a substantial number of Palestinian prisoners as a token of goodwill; lift its siege of Gaza; suspend all settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem; accept that a symbolic number of Palestinians be given the "right of return" to Israel under a future peace treaty; and agree to place the question of the status of Jerusalem at the top of the peace-talks agenda.

"If you refuse these demands," Hillary told Netanyahu, according to our sources, "the United States government will conclude that we no longer share the same interests."

It's disappointing but hardly surprising that, with the Palestinians effectively operating a Ministry of Hate and continued Qassam attacks from Gaza, the administration (and its allies) apparently still thinks that Israeli concessions are the key to peace in the Middle East.

Crossposted on Yourish.