Sunday July 19, 2009

I've Been Thinking:

Diplomacy is all about compromise.
The "all or nothing" variety of diplomacy rarely leads to success.
On the contrary, it leads to a breakdown in communication and the end of dialogue.

Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador in Washington, was summoned to a meeting with State Dept. officials over the weekend.
Oren was there because plans are underway to turn the Shepherd hotel in East Jerusalem, located only a few yards away from Israel's National Police Headquarters, into housing units.
Arab demands on settlements are not new, but they are to be viewed as opening positions for negotiations, not as absolutes.

The hotel was bought legally and publicly.
The plans were passed by the City Council.
The location is Jerusalem, albeit East Jerusalem.
East Jerusalem is not a settlement, it was annexed in 1967 after the Six Day War.

The Israeli Ambassador explained it all but to know avail.
For the Obama Administration, like for the Arab world, no building means no building. When Oren insisted that Jerusalem, Israel's capital, is different the State Department repeated their stance, "no means no", and "no", Jerusalem is not different.

Absolutes are deeply problematic stances.
Absolutes refuse to consider nuance.
Nuance has been the foundation of many agreements in the modern Middle East.

Saying "no" to the Shepherd Hotel project might win points for the Administration in the Arab world. But if the real objective is to advance a peace initiative this absolute demand will cause the failure of Obama's "glorious peace plan."

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