"The prospects for reaching a permanent status agreement are poor because the Israelis are too strong, the Palestinians are too weak, and the Americans mediators are utterly ineffectual. The sheer asymmetry of power between the two parties militates against a voluntary agreement. To get Israelis and Palestinians round a conference table and to tell them to hammer out an agreement is like putting a lion and a lamb in a cage and asking them to sort out their own differences.
Third party intervention is clearly indispensable. To put it more simply, there can be no settlement unless America pushes Israel into a settlement. Playing the honest broker will not do the trick. In the first place, most Arabs regard the United States as a dishonest broker on account of its palpable partisanship on behalf of Israel. Moreover, honest brokerage is not enough. In order to bridge the huge gap separating the two sides, America must first redress the balance of power by putting most of its weight on the side of the weaker party."
Read more-The Guardian
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Third party intervention is clearly indispensable. To put it more simply, there can be no settlement unless America pushes Israel into a settlement.
ReplyDeleteAmen
The thing is that every time I hear the 3word settlement, I cringe..Even when it's of a different kind, but the statement of course is true.. It's in the hands of the US now.
ReplyDeleteI don't think America has the power to force Israel. Not if Israel believes it can bribe Russia, China and India into its corner. We Americans aren't as influential as we think we are.
ReplyDeleteThis said, America should use the limited influence we have to pressure Israel.
"redress the balance of power by putting most of its weight on the side of the weaker party.""
ReplyDeleteIs it racist to imply that someone is "weaker"?
I mean I think Chinese, Indians, Brazilians and Turks would likely want to bash the head in of anyone who implied that they were weaker than anyone else.
The phrase should be described differently.
I think the real key is to surge Palestinian capacity, economic might, influence and leverage so that Palestine can pressure Israel into a settlement on terms favorable to Palestine. I don't see any other solution.
Don't think America has the power to force Israel. Maybe America could have forced Israel back in the 1960s and 1970s. But today? We need to realize that America has a far smaller share of global wealth, income, power and influence than we did a generation or two ago. We need to internalize it.