Gilo isn't a barrier to negotiations

Barack Obama was six years old when the Jordanian army opened fire on Jerusalem in the 1967 war. Shortly after the fighting, Israel expanded the city's boundaries. Four years later it began construction the Gilo neighborhood.

Gilo made headlines early in the 2000 intifada, when Palestinians bunkered in the nearby city of Beit Jalla fired on apartments there. Israel responded by building a wall to protect the vulnerable area and proceeded to wreak more havoc in Beit Jalla and the rest of Palestine than the Palestinians could achieve against Israelis. Some 40,000 people are now living in Gilo, construction of new homes and public facilities proceeds there as elsewhere in Jerusalem, and planning authorities have recently approved the construction of an additional 900 units. 
 
The concept of a wall protecting Israel from Palestinian violence caught on, and the project continues. The security barrier generally runs close to the 1967 boundaries, but reaches to the east in order to enclose major Jewish population centers.
 
None of these developments received the blessing of the international community. However, no government has taken any steps stronger than protesting against the unilateral expansion of Jerusalem's boundaries, or other Israeli construction in the West Bank.
 
Possession is nine-tenths of the law. I probably first heard that expression as part of a dispute on a primary school play yard, years before the 1967 war. Believe it or not, it also carries weight in international law. Claims should be bolstered with control in order to win recognition.

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Why the stalemate?

Headline in Friday's Ha'aretz:  "Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] is losing hope: 'I sense that Netanyahu has not changed since 1996'"
 
A headline on an inside page in the same edition: "Paralysis at the summit of coordination between the government and the territories." That story goes on to say that things are not happening in the policy to advance "economic peace" on account of the failure of Israeli government to make appointments to key positions in the program.
 
Elsewhere in the news we hear that negotiations about freeing Gilad Schalit are moving at the speed of a crippled snail. International donors are complaining that Gazans are still living amid the rubble because Israel will not open the borders to the supplies and equipment that their contributions will provide.
 
Let me offer explanations for these disparate items, summed up in some pithy epigrams:

• There is no free lunch in international relations
• You screw us, we'll screw you
• "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" may be a spiritual ideal, but the more popular norm in international politics is the simpler "Do unto others."

Israel can live well enough without solving the problem of Palestine. The Palestinians may pride themselves in their willingness to die for their national cause, but they have committed national suicide. There will be no Palestinian state as long as key factions persist with the dreams of turning back the clock to 1967, to 1947, or to the mid-19th century before Jews began coming to this area.
 
I perceive that Netanyahu has changed since 1996. He appears to be wiser, and more skilled in expressing what he demands as conditions for moving forward with a peace process.
 
Abu Mazen's problem is that he has not changed. From the information available to the public, I see no signs of flexibility in his position. No matter what Israel has offered, it is not enough.

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We're not finished with Saddam yet

This part of the Middle East has long been a place of exciting ideas. Chosen People, Promised Land, and Holy City have motivated Jews for more than two millennia. Nakba has served Palestinians for 60 years. Settlements arouse both Israelis and anti-Israelis. Some see them as part of salvation, others as the essence of sin.
 
Hyperbole may be the regional disease, or at least one of the elements preventing the calm that we envy for Scandinavia and New Zealand.
 
Way down the list from Chosen People, Promised Land, Holy City, or Nakba, but still warm to the touch, is a note distributed by the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies. David Keyes begins his article, entitled "Sadam's Legacy in Amman," with the statement that "Saddam Hussein killed more Arabs and Muslims than any other Middle Eastern leader in recent history."
 
He goes on to write: "True, he [Saddam] imposed order in Iraq.... Prizing stability over liberty is the root of so many of the region's ills." 
 
There is more here than might appear at first glance.

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The game continues

The United States is the most powerful nation in the world. It may be the most powerful in the history of the world, but analyses of power relative to others at their times might find ancient Greece and Rome, and not so ancient Nazi Germany in comparable or stronger positions. Germany's power did not last long, but it was awesome while it was all over Europe, close to Moscow and Cairo.
 
Those who doubt that the United States can act unilaterally, or nearly so, should take a look at what it has done to Iraq, and what its unguided missiles have done to civilians in Afghanistan. Americans responsible for those actions are not concerned to travel outside their country, or being seized by border officials acting under the decisions of judges from Spain, the United Kingdom, or the Hague.

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Containing the rogues

The Economist's description of Gaza three months after Israel's invasion makes for difficult reading. The slogans of "collective punishment" and the "world's largest prison" seem accurate. 

Numerous families are living rough due to their homes being destroyed. Diets are limited due to continued blockades of all but essential foods and medicines. The Israeli press reported recently that pumpkins were not allowed in because they were not on the list of essential foods.

Peace is not on the horizon

Pardon my cynicism, but the continued, new, or renewed insistence of the United States, European governments, some Israelis and other hangers-on to pursue negotiations with Palestinians, Syrians and Iranians strike me as the playthings of children. Think of the performances that elementary school children give for their parents. Aren't they all cute?
 
Lip service is another appropriate metaphor.
 
One must aspire to peace, and go through appropriate motions. Correct political aspirations demand it.
 
Don't hold your breath waiting for positive results.
 
Why these damning predictions about the efforts of numerous worthies from credible countries, who otherwise do much good for their own citizens and the world at large?

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Considering the aftermath

Gaza did not fix everything. Our part of the world is still upside down.
 
Hamas fighters are strutting on the main streets with their weapons, while their leaders proclaim victory from underground shelters.
 
Like Hassan Nasrallah, their counterpart in Lebanon, they may stay underground for the indefinite future. Perhaps they fear Israel if they peek out to the sunlight, or dare hold a victory rally in the open. Or they may fear the people of Gaza, faced with the rubble of wild promises.

What about the propaganda war?

The IDF has destroyed a considerable part of Hamas facilities, its munitions, and the homes of its leaders. It has killed more than 750 people, and injured more than 2,500.
 
What about the propaganda war?
 
Israeli officials, as well as countless Jews and other friends explain the IDF's actions. They may convince those already committed to Israel. They cannot convince those committed to the Palestinian narrative. The pictures and statistics make it difficult to reach people in the middle, including those who seldom pay attention to Israel, but are revolted by disproportionate death and destruction.
 
Israeli sources note the practice of Hamas to use human shields for their evil work, and to delight in publicity given to pictures of dead women and children. Media friendly to the Palestinians have shown films from years ago as if they were current.

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Our best friend but not our only friend

Is the American empire in decline?
 
What should be the strategy of a small country like Israel?
 
A combination of greed and stupidity has produced what may be the greatest world economic crisis since the 1930's. It is a story of huge rewards for individuals at the pinnacles of finance in the United States, who paved the road to disaster, and officials who sold the notion that the function of government is not to govern.
 
Americans have also showed narrow-minded arrogance in their use of military power. How many adventures like Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan can a country enter and still remain great?

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The imminent scandal

There is a great scandal brewing here, but at least some of the implications are not as frightening as they seem.
 
The scandal concerns police investigations and potential criminal charges against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for deception, dereliction of duty, violation of trust, money laundering, tax evasion, and perhaps bribery. We are some way from a formal indictment, but serious reports, as well as leaks and speculation suggest that this is the most serious investigation of the five or six that have been waged against him in recent years. Political rivals within and outside his party are circling like vultures who scent rotting meat, and positioning themselves to do battle both with the prime minister and with one another.