On January 5 John Bolton, the former unconfirmed U.S. envoy to the United Nations, advocated in The Washington Post a "three-state solution" to the Palestinian problem. This "solution" involved returning Gaza to Egypt and the West Bank to Jordan because the Palestinian state has manifestly failed.
A perennial cutter of Gordian knots, Bolton usually misses the complexity of the turns — and the identity of the knot-tiers. In this case, he missed ...
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Insightful, informed analysis of the United States government's unconditional, unquestioning, unlimited support of any and all Israeli government actions, regardless of their wisdom or legality. Williams' commentary is particularly valuable for offering clear and precise actions that Barack Obama and the new administration can take to stop the violence and resolve the conflict.
If Obama wants to be a real friend to Israel, he has to let the Israeli government know its actions are not consequence-free. There is both a principled and a pragmatic constituency that he can address in Israel itself. Until now, the Israeli electorate has worked on the principle that whatever happens, the United States will provide support. If the government needs replacements for expended cluster bombs, the United States will airlift them in. If the UN, the EU, and other international actors criticize Israel’s military actions, Washington will send the aid check as always. This uncritical support of Israel must change.
Obama shouldn’t let the immediate crisis in Gaza deflect from the root problem. Israeli leaders have a profound ambivalence toward the peace process, to which they officially subscribe even as they continue building settlements in the West Bank. The United States must push Israel toward greater engagement with a peace settlement. Nor can the United States or the EU continue to ostracize any Palestinian (or for that matter the Lebanese) leadership demonized by Israel as terrorists.
On the carrot side, Obama should promise full security guarantees to Israel within the internationally accepted borders, based on the June 1967 lines. Since he is being bipartisan, the new president should take up where George Bush Sr. and James Baker left off almost two decades ago. Any Israeli spending on settlement building should be condemned in the UN, and matched by equivalent reductions in U.S. aid. He should also implement actual U.S. policy by reminding Israelis that American weaponry is intended for defensive purposes and that any used in attacks beyond the borders won’t be replaced.
Finally, the president-elect should speak out now about the desirability of Israel abiding by UN Security Council Resolution 1860, which calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli troop withdrawal, and sustained delivery of humanitarian assistance. A word from Obama would give Israel the excuse it desperately needs to extricate itself from the hole it dug in Gaza, while redounding to the president-elect’s credit globally.
Williams' observations are spot-on, highlighting Bolton's disastrous recommendation to dissolve Palestine entirely as indicative of current US policy toward Israel and the Palestinian Occupied Territories. If Obama is to fulfill his promise to AIPAC to take "whatever steps necessary" to provide for the long-term security of Israel and the safety of the Israeli people, the best role he can play is that of candid adviser. A true friend of Israel will stop facilitating self-destructive behavior and bring the full force of US foreign policy to support peace, justice, and the rule of international law to bear in establishing free and independent states of Israel and Palestine.