Eyeless in Gaza: Obama's Palestine Flop
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Article by Michael Brenner..."The White House's approach to the combustible Palestinian issue was predicated on four assumptions. Each is fallacious. The key assumption was belief in the president's ability to wrest from the Israeli leadership concessions of sufficient importance and scope as to lay the foundations for a durable settlement -- that is one. Obama at first seemed prepared to invest considerable political capital and personal prestige in the effort. In fact, as we now know, he backed away from doing that -- preferring the course of least resistance. Success, as he saw it, would require making his demands on the Israelis credible -- that was two. Credibility, in turn, meant neutralizing the powerful Israeli lobby and its supporters in Congress -- that was three. Ross' involvement, along with that of Rahm Emanuel, became a crucial political shock absorber for the White House. Another critical assumption concerned the Palestinians. It was the conviction that the commitments extracted from Netanyahu et al would prove adequate to win their acceptance by Abbas and Fatah -- that is four."
The link address is: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-brenner/eyeless-in-gaza-obamas-pa_b_304615.html