Israel’s Jerusalem “Piece Process”

As I wrote a few weeks ago, there is very little reason to believe that this is a propitious moment for resolving the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. My critics have gently pushed back along three fronts: 1) They argued that a new Israeli coalition government that includes the centrist Yesh Atid party may very well be more flexible than its immediate predecessor; 2) peace processing is “better than doing nothing,” and 3) Mahmoud Abbas needs help otherwise Hamas will gain ground on the West Bank. All three arguments are specious, however. Yesh Atid’s leader, Yair Lapid, may be a centrist on domestic issues but his views on the peace process align pretty closely with those of Prime Minister Netanyahu. It also is true that the prime minister has repeatedly called for negotiations, but that is a political layup. Netanyahu accrues the political benefit of calling for talks knowing Abbas will not accept because the Israelis have made it clear they are unable/unwilling to meet the Palestinians’ minimum requirements for a deal. It is hard to take the “better than doing nothing” argument seriously because it is unclear to me how all the investment of American time and resources have made things much better.  Throughout the 1990s, the United States tried mightily to bring the conflict to an end and still there are more settlers in the West Bank, the second intifada was far more violent than the first, and Gaza remains under Israeli lock and key while its rockets are ever more threatening to Israelis. As for the third reason, engaging in meaningless talks with Israelis at the Lansdowne Resort and Conference Center in Leesburg, Virginia will only further weaken Abbas, given Hamas’s narrative that U.S.-sponsored negotiations are a ruse to deny Palestinians their legitimate rights.

So to Yossi Bellin who demands a plan from President Obama and others who see possibilities for negotiations where others see none: what plan, what bridging proposal, what sets of understandings, principles for negotiation, or road map can possibly help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as long as the Palestinians require more than a token presence in Jerusalem and the Israelis remain intent on making sure that does not happen?