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Analysis of Abbas-Obama meeting by Barry Rubin: LCE carries the day
Don’t have time to comment. But Barry Rubin is possibly the political analyst who best understands the cultural dynamics at work in Arab politics. No cognitive egocentrism here, except, alas, where our POTUS is concerned.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2010
Obama Meets Abbas: And Shows He Understands Neither Hamas Nor Israel, Neither the Middle East Nor Islamism
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By Barry Rubin
President Barack Obama has announced an additional $400 million in aid for housing, school construction and business development in Gaza and West Bank in his meeting with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. Calling the status quo in Gaza unsustainable, Obama said he was talking with Europeans, Egypt, Israel, and the PA on how to have a better approach that takes into account the security concerns of Israel and the needs of people in Gaza.
He also urged the need to rush ahead on a peace process which has no chance of success, calling this situation, too, unsustainable. It is in fact Obama’s policy which is unsustainable.
Obama said, “As part of the United Nations Security Council, we were very clear in condemning the acts that led to this crisis and have called for a full investigation.” What does this mean? Which acts? The acts of provocation and attacks on Israeli soldiers or is he blaming Israel? Who knows? The president of the United States is not supposed to be inscrutable.
Moreover, the president of the United States shouldn’t hide behind the UN. What is his policy? Where is the leadership?
And then he repeated something he has done before–claimed that Israelis backed his policy– which is blatantly untrue as polls show. “”What we also know is that the situation in Gaza is unsustainable. I think increasingly you’re seeing debates within Israel, recognizing the problems with the status quo.” The truth is that Obama understands nothing about Israel. He should leave the choice of Israel’s government to its people and the setting of policies to its government.Aside from all this, Obama displays no strategic sense. He should make clear that the United States does not want an Iranian client, a revolutionary jihadists Taliban-like regime on the Mediterranean Sea. It should be the goal of U.S. policy to avoid this. Instead he deals with this as a “humanitarian” issue and makes no effort to get across what should be the main point.
And so Obama said:
“We agree that Israelis have the right to prevent arms from entering into Gaza that can be used to launch attacks into Israeli territory. But we also think that it is important for us to explore new mechanisms so that we can have goods and services, and economic development, and the ability of people to start their own businesses, and to grow the economy and provide opportunity within Gaza.”
He and his advisors have no comprehension of what makes Hamas and its leaders tick. So he wants a prosperous Gaza Strip under Hamas leadership? Money will be pouring in, jobs will be created. Of course, only until Hamas decides to start the next war. What does he envision is going to happen under his strategy? That the lean and hungry leaders of Hamas will sell out to the infidels and open a chain of fast-food restaurants?
Nor does he have the slightest clue about Palestinian politics. Just as he misstates Israeli thinking, Obama has no conception that Fatah is full of radicals and is in competition with Hamas to prove itself more militant. He keeps repeating the idea that the Palestinians are suffering so much that they are eager for a deal, the same error made–with more justification to be sure–by the Clinton Administration in 2000. And as long as the Palestinian Authority has no control over almost half the people it purports to rule, and Hamas uses its power to sabotage any agreement or stability, how could there possibly be progress on peace?
Remember the U.S. policy up until now has been to help the Palestinian Authority to become more stable and prosperous so that Gazans would contrast their situation with it and say, “Moderation is certainly better than extremism!” Now they and many others will say, “Extremism is certainly better than moderation! You still get Western support, they protect you from being overthrown, and you don’t have to moderte or sell out at all!”
Who’s really making the Middle East unsustainable? Barack Obama is with a policy of weaken your friends and help your enemies get stronger.
Note that Obama did not mention the conditions for easing the blockade–that Hamas abandon terrorism and accept Israel’s existence–nor did he say that anything the Palestinian Authority or Hamas is doing is “unsustainable.” Only Western and Israeli policy are said to be unsustainable. In effect, Obama is saying that the policies of Hamas, Iran, Hizballah, and Syria, among others, are infinitely sustainable, especially because of his reluctance to do things to make them unsustainable.
And thus in Middle East terms, he’s saying: Your intransigence has won. We couldn’t move you so our policy has failed. We must give in.
Let’s be clear here. The assessment in this article is a harsh one but the policy of this administration is a disastrous one. To condemn it has nothing to do with party or ideology. Unfortuntely, though, this administration has taken leave of any sense of national interests’ policy, has substituted Feelgoodpolitik for Realpolitik.
Obama may honestly believe that pumping money into specific projects in Gaza like houses, schools, and businesses is not a subsidy for Hamas. But of course that is what it will be. Anyone should be able to understand this:
–Schools. That means classrooms were Hamas can indoctrinate children into thinking that they should grow up to be terrorists, Israel must be wiped off the map, peace with Israel is unacceptable, the Jews must be murdered, America is evil and its influence should be driven out of the region, and all existing Arab states except for Syria should be overthrown.
If I was a cartoonist I’d draw a picture of a classroom. On the wall is a plaque saying: Paid for by the American people. The teacher is telling the kiddies: “And so you must all grow up to be holy warriors and wipe out the Zionist pigs and imperialist dogs.” That is no exaggeration.
—-Construction. Yes it would be nice if Gazans had jobs and nicer places to live. But no body in a Palestinian refugee camp (except perhaps if they bribe someone) will get a new apartment since they must continue to suffer until they can presumably return in triumph to take over housing recently vacated by murdered Israelis. Apartments will be given first by the Hamas government to its supporters and thus used to recruit people and bind them to the movement. Some of the concrete and other equipment will be siphoned off for building bunkers or rockets to fire at Israel.
If I were a cartoonist I’d draw a picture of an apartment building with a sign saying, “Gift of the American people” in front of it and with a Hamas official saying to a man: “And if you become a suicide bomber you not only get to go to heaven but your family will receive a two-bedroom apartment with a nice view of the beach.” That, too, is no exaggeration.
Remember the United States has no one on the ground in the Gaza Strip to supervise these projects and prevent Hamas from stealing money, materials, and products. I’d prefer all the money be given for aid to the West Bank than have any funds go to the Gaza Strip.
And what happens when Hamas attacks Israel again? I can see the media coverage now, complaining that Israel is damaging all those beautiful U.S.-financed buildings, which are being used as rocket-launching sites and bunkers by Hamas.
Can’t the U.S. government figure this stuff out for itself? The president is not the head of a foundation providing grants to community organizers. So the money will be taken by Hamas and other Islamists as “blood money” to pay compensation for the blockade or as tribute from a frightened America. It will win no friends and do no good strategically or politically.
Here’s the bottom line:
The president of the United States has just announced that his country must give in to the defiance of a dictatorship with about 1.2 million people. He is going to subsidize a genocidal-intentioned, antisemitic, terrorist regime allied to Iran and he is eager to stabilize its rule.
Analysis of Abbas-Obama meeting by Barry Rubin: LCE carries the day…
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He is acting true to form and in a manner is borrowing Ledeen’s Faster Please to grind down the Israelis.
In an analogous form as people apply the “naive/ignorant” adjective to the agenda driven media with an axe to grind so do they apply it to a politician, thus completely misleading the reader.
The guy is not stupid and with all those radicals around and his past month’s voting behaviour at the UN one cannot rule out malicious intent.
Hamas destroys dozens of homes in southern Gaza
Cynic,
The guy is not stupid and with all those radicals around and his past month’s voting behaviour at the UN one cannot rule out malicious intent.
The guy is certainly malicious, but he is stupidly malicious, because those whom he thinks he’s playing the game with will eat him alive without him even knowing it.
He has no clue about the ME in the same manner in which he is ignorant of everything else.
Hamas can do anything they want and nobody cares; no matter what Israel does, they’ll condemn it. That’s the reality and evidence and reason don’t count.
1. Very good analysis.
2. I agree with Cynic.
3. Two recent EoZ articles that demonstrate how aid is distributed in Gaza:
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2010/06/when-humanitarian-aid-becomes-political.html
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2010/06/which-gazans-get-first-choice-on-aid.html
Nobody is that stupid:
http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2010/06/clinton-to-brazilturkey-youre-against.html
Turkey damages Obama’s master plan against Iranian Nukes, and the US-Government make excuses for Erdogan in this regard. That’s right, the Turks did not even have to come up with excuses, Clinton did it for them:
Methinks the US is acting just like a collapsing dominant power usually does: trying to appease bullies in the hope that they won’t kick it too hard.
Alas, these bullies see appeasement as an invitation to kick as hard as possible.
Not stupid?
Clinton to Brazil/Turkey: You’re Against U.S.? Hey, That’s Cool!
http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2010/06/clinton-to-brazilturkey-youre-against.html
I would say imbecillic.
Good article about Obama’s shortcoming:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703302604575294231631318728.html
Here’s more proof:
Sources: Obama Administration to Support Anti-Israel Resolution at UN Next Week
BY William Kristol
THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned that senior Obama administration officials have been telling foreign governments that the administration intends to support an effort next week at the United Nations to set up an independent commission, under UN auspices, to investigate Israel’s behavior in the Gaza flotilla incident. The White House has apparently shrugged off concerns from elsewhere in the U.S. government that a) this is an extraordinary singling out of Israel, since all kinds of much worse incidents happen around the world without spurring UN investigations; b) that the investigation will be one-sided, focusing entirely on Israeli behavior and not on Turkey or on Hamas; and c) that this sets a terrible precedent for outside investigations of incidents involving U.S. troops or intelligence operatives as we conduct our own war on terror.
While UN Ambassador Susan Rice is reported to have played an important role in pushing for U.S. support of a UN investigation, the decision is, one official stressed, of course the president’s. The government of Israel has been consulting with the U.S. government on its own Israeli investigative panel, to be led by a retired supreme court justice, that would include respected international participants, including one from the U.S. But the Obama administration is reportedly saying that such a “kosher panel” is not good enough to satisfy the international community, or the Obama White House.
incognito,
But the Obama administration is reportedly saying that such a “kosher panel” is not good enough to satisfy the international community, or the Obama White House.
Would halal do instead?
I read somewhere that New Zealand has banned kosher killing. My question again, if this is the case, what do the Muslims do? Do their own killing on the sidewalk?
cynic,
Enjoy:
[BRILLIANT]
Mark Steyn: This job, too, is beneath Obama
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/obama-252975-canadian-one.html
incognito,
I don’t think this Steyn piece is brilliant.
It’s well written, as usual, and well captures much of the personna.
It nicely complements Spengler’s “claim”.
Fine with me.
I don’t think this Steyn piece is brilliant.
To each his own.