Hillary Backpedals on Israel

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright March 18, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                                

            Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton softened her stance on Israel, after calling the announcement about building plans in East Jerusalem “insulting,” Vice President Joe Biden’s recent peace overture appeared rebuffed last week when Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai declared plans to build an additional 1,600 residential units in the ultra-orthodox subdisivion known as Ramat Schlomo.  Yishai, the head of Israel’s right-wing pro-settler Shas Party, timed his remarks for maximum humiliation.  Biden reacted harshly together with Clinton, accusing Israel of sabotaging a fledgling peace process, designed to broker a peace deal with West Bank leader and U.S. ally 74-year-old Mahmoud Abbas.  Despite his checkered past, rumored involved in the Palestinian massacre of 17 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Abbas remains a moderate voice in the peace process.

             Since Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s suspicious death Nov. 11, 2004, Abbas was deemed his successor.  Abbas was named Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and appointed by the Palestinian Central Committee Jan. 15, 2005 to head the Palestinian Authority, headquartered in the besieged West Bank capital of Ramallah.  Only one year later, the Palestinian Authority lost a U.N.-monitored and approved election Jan. 26, 2006, handing control of the Palestinian parliament over to the radical group Hamas—considered a terror group by the U.S. State Department. On June 14, 2007 Hamas seized the Palestinian Authority-controlled Gaza Strip, controlling its 1.6-million population.  Since winning U.N.-supervised elections in Jan. 2006, the Bush State Department, led by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, severed all diplomatic ties.

            Biden, while embarrassed, overreacted to Israeli building plans in East Jerusalem, considering his trip was purely exploratory, seeking so-called “proximity talks.”  Upbraiding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or anyone else for that matter in the Israeli government, for prescheduled, routine construction plans, shouldn’t warrant the kind of back-biting seen by the State Dept.  Israel hasn’t upended an active peace process.  When Chairman Arafat was engaged in Mideast summitry with former President Bill Clinton and then Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak in Aug. 2000, no one jumped on Arafat’s back for walking out and declaring his last Intifada or uprising.  At that time, the Palestinian population, no matter how divided in opinion, was unified under the Palestinian Authority.  Hamas, at the time, was a militant group used by Arafat to win concessions from Israel.

            Hillary’s State Dept. regards Hamas, like the Bush administration, as a terror group.  Yet it was free-and-fair elections Jan. 26, 2006 in Gaza that elected Hamas and chose Ismail Haniyeh as its duly elected government.  Bush officials, led by Condi, may have not liked the outcome of legitimate elections but they nonetheless took place with Hamas the winner.  Today’s “proximity talks” are directed only at Abbas and the West Bank, bypassing Haniyeh and Hamas, demonstrating the tenuous nature of today’s Mideast peacemaking.  Without a unified Palestinian people, at least 1.6 million Palestinians in Gaza have no say in peace process.  While Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has tried to broker a deal between Abbas and Haniyeh, his efforts, so far, haven’t panned out.  White House officials hope to bring Hamas to the table by brokering a deal with Abbas.

            Calling the U.S. relationship with Israel “unshakable,” Clinton raised some eyebrows, after blasting Israel for “insulting” Biden last week.  Now that she’s gotten some perspective, she’s backpedaled.  “We have an absolute commitment to Israel’s security.  We have a close unshakable bond,” said Hillary, softening her rhetoric from last week’s dressing down.  “We don’t agree with any of our international partners on everything,” said Hillary, trying to mend fences after causing a uproar after last weeks’ tough talk.  When Palestinians danced in Gaza and the West Bank streets after Sept. 11, Bush, and his former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, turned to Israel for intel and security help.  Israel immediately became the one reliable ally in the Middle East.  While the U.S. has other friends and allies, only Israel provides the intel and military help to advance U.S. national security.

            Palestinian Authority President and PLO Chairman Abbas knows the consequences of turning away from the peace process.  Arafat went to his grave without a peace deal because he chose unrealistic preconditions, threats, blackmail and terrorism instead of serious discussion and bargaining at the peace table.  Abbas now finds himself under increased pressure from Hamas to stubbornly resist any real peace overtures.  Blaming a lack of progress on Israeli construction plans doesn’t deal with reality in East Jerusalem and the West Bank:  Abbas must stop making demands and work with the Netanyahu government.  Whatever construction goes on Jewish settlements, Abbas knows that it will wind up at the bargaining table.  U.S. officials went too far bashing Israel for its usual-and-customary practice of completing construction projects in Jewish subdivisions.  Before exacting concessions from Israel, the U.S. government should help resolve Abbas’ split with Hamas.  

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.