Wednesday, August 21, 2013 at 4:44PMGilad AtzmonBy Gilad Atzmon
It is hard to believe how little is left of Obama’s superb Cairo speech. In a relatively short time, the American administration has managed to fall into every possible trap. It is now affiliated as well as conflicting with Al-Qaeda (assuming there is such a thing), Wahhabi war-mongers, Salafist terrorists, the Muslim Brotherhood and their enemies - the Arab seculars and nationalist revolutionary forces. They all despise America equally. It indeed takes some talent to mess things up that badly. However, as usual, when everything goes wrong for America, the Administration expects the Palestinians to save the world single super power’s honour. America needs an Israeli/Palestinian deal but here is the problem. Both Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas are at least as clever as Atzmon. The two leaders are clever enough to grasp that America’s foreign policy is stuck in the mud. Instead of striking a peace deal, something they cannot sell to their people for the obvious reasons, they much prefer to buy time. The Palestinians buy time because time is all they need in order to win in the long term. Netanyahu buys time because the Israelis love to extend the present to the point that 'short term' conveys itself as eternity.
And what about peace? Who cares?
It is hard to believe how little is left of Obama’s superb Cairo speech. In a relatively short time, the American administration has managed to fall into every possible trap. It is now affiliated as well as conflicting with Al-Qaeda (assuming there is such a thing), Wahhabi war-mongers, Salafist terrorists, the Muslim Brotherhood and their enemies - the Arab seculars and nationalist revolutionary forces. They all despise America equally. It indeed takes some talent to mess things up that badly. However, as usual, when everything goes wrong for America, the Administration expects the Palestinians to save the world single super power’s honour. America needs an Israeli/Palestinian deal but here is the problem. Both Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas are at least as clever as Atzmon. The two leaders are clever enough to grasp that America’s foreign policy is stuck in the mud. Instead of striking a peace deal, something they cannot sell to their people for the obvious reasons, they much prefer to buy time. The Palestinians buy time because time is all they need in order to win in the long term. Netanyahu buys time because the Israelis love to extend the present to the point that 'short term' conveys itself as eternity.
And what about peace? Who cares?