Charles Krauthammer is of the opinion that a seismic shift took place in the Obama administration’s viewpoint on Middle East peace.
In Ramallah last week, Obama didn’t just address this perennial Palestinian dodge. He demolished the very claim that settlements are the obstacle to peace. Palestinian sovereignty and Israeli security are “the core issue,” he told Abbas. “If we solve those two problems, the settlement problem will be solved.”
Finally. Presidential validation of the screamingly obvious truism: Any peace agreement will produce a Palestinian state with not a single Israeli settlement remaining on its territory. Any settlement on the Palestinian side of whatever border is agreed upon will be demolished. Thus, any peace that reconciles Palestinian statehood with Israeli security automatically resolves the settlement issue. It disappears.
Yes, Obama offered the ritual incantations about settlements being unhelpful. Nothing new here. He could have called them illegal or illegitimate. It wouldn’t have mattered — because Obama officially declared them irrelevant.
Exposing settlements as a mere excuse for the Palestinian refusal to negotiate — that was the news, widely overlooked, coming out of Obama’s trip. It was a breakthrough.
Indeed, Obama’s refusal to go along any longer with the settlement freeze precondition has become a surly AP boilerplate.
The Palestinians say Israel must freeze settlement building on lands it captured in 1967 before any negotiations can resume. Israel says the issue of settlements can be addressed in negotiations.
During a visit to the region last week, President Barack Obama sided with the Israeli view.
It is not clear how the US can bring the Palestinians back to the table without a settlement freeze.
Does this mean that the Obama administration isn’t going to push Israel while refraining from punishing the Palestinians for their intransigence? No. But it does mean that the Obama administration is not going to put Israel front and center, and I’m pretty sure there won’t be any 45-minute dressing-downs from the Secretary of State over bullshit settlement excuses.
I would really like to have seen Obama go medieval on the Palestinians for outright refusing him, because it was a distinct slap in the face, but hey, I also want to win the lottery. I figure the odds are about the same.