Arabs claim Clinton set Middle East peace process back a decade

November 2, 1:32 PMGeopolitics ExaminerMichael Hughes

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Sec. of State Hillary Clinton with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Saturday press conference
AFP

Hillary Fumbles and Bumbles
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dropped the ball in Israel this weekend by shockingly “misspeaking” in a surreal Bosnia crossfire-like moment, when she lauded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's partial settlement moratorium as “unprecedented”, while standing next to him and grinning in a Kodak moment sure to thrill Arabs around the globe.

Her untimely praise comes before Israel has even entered negotiations with the Palestinians, who were outraged by her remarks, charging Mrs. Clinton with setting negotiations back more than a decade in one fell swoop.

U.S. officials scrambled, sheepishly attempting damage control because of Clinton’s colossal gaffe, asserting that the administration policy is, and always has been, that Israel must cease building settlements in the West Bank at once. This just highlights how fragile the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations process is and that U.S. diplomats must choose their words with extreme caution and prudence, which our Secretary of State failed to do on Saturday.

Hillary either misunderstood Netanyahu’s offer or is insidiously trying to sabotage Obama’s efforts at putting more pressure on Israel so that Arabs believe the U.S. is taking a more equitable approach, which is quite the departure from U.S. policy in the 90s, including during her husband’s administration. As the Washington Post put it:

Clinton's comments represented a shift in the dynamics since Obama took office, with initial pressure on Israel giving way to apparent impatience over the refusal of Palestinian officials to resume peace talks in the absence of a settlement freeze.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa described Clinton's comments as a "slap in the face" to the Palestinians: "President Obama said something totally different than what she said. We have to ask her -- does she really think this is an acceptable thing?" Moussa also fears that her comments “mean that we are once again in the same vicious circle we were in the 1990s.”

Reaction from Palestine and Abbas was concerning, indicating that Clinton’s remarks have caused more turmoil than one could imagine. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said: "If America cannot get Israel to implement a settlement freeze, what chance do the Palestinians have of reaching agreement?”

Gutsy Israeli Chastises U.S. and Israel
Meanwhile, U.S. bias to Israel was called out from the strangest of sources. Gideon Levy, one of Israel’s own, criticized the United States for sucking up to Israel in an editorial today on Harretz.com. Glenn Greenwald from Salon.com called the journalist courageous and commented:

The latest Haaretz column by the outstanding and courageous Israeli columnist, Gideon Levy, is entitled "America, Stop Sucking Up to Israel," and it highlights one of the most bizarre political facts: criticism of Israeli actions is far more tolerated and permitted in Israeli political discourse than it is in America's.

Mr. Levy’s article portrays what is likely how the Arab world is thinking after Clinton’s genius news conference. Below are just a few excerpts from this compelling piece:

Before no other country on the planet does the United States kneel and plead like this. In other trouble spots, America takes a different tone. It bombs in Afghanistan, invades Iraq and threatens sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Did anyone in Washington consider begging Saddam Hussein to withdraw from occupied territory in Kuwait?

But Israel the occupier, the stubborn contrarian that continues to mock America and the world by building settlements and abusing the Palestinians, receives different treatment.

As long as Israel feels the United States is in its pocket, and that America's automatic veto will save it from condemnations and sanctions, that it will receive massive aid unconditionally, and that it can continue waging punitive, lethal campaigns without a word from Washington, killing, destroying and imprisoning without the world's policeman making a sound, it will continue in its ways

Clinton Backpedals
Monday morning Clinton tried to erase her remarks, saying that "the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. They will build no new settlements, expropriate no land, allow no new construction, or approvals."

A wise attempt, but I can only pray that the Palestinians accept Clinton’s pathetic cover up and the infliction rendered is not irreparable, especially when considering that the United States, supposedly, and most of the international community believe that the West Bank settlements are in blatant violation of international law and one of the major obstacles in brokering a peace deal between Israel and Palestine.

When Mrs. Clinton revised her misstatement on Monday she read straight from written notes, and I am sure Arabs everywhere got the feeling she was not exactly speaking from the heart. Yet, Obama perhaps sees this as a preferable method going forward during the peace process, rather than let her go off the cuff.  A method that should be employed by Obama not because there is any doubt about Hillary's brilliance but rather, its a question of her motives.  There is such a thing as too smart.

Yet, Hillary was obstinate in her retraction, sticking to her description of the Israel offer as “unprecedented”, basically trying to say she didn’t “technically” say the wrong thing: “But if it is acted upon, it will be an unprecedented restriction on settlements and would have a significant and meaningful effect on restraining their growth."

The Abbas reaction, delivered by spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh, was that they now believe the negotiations process is: "in a state of paralysis, and the result of Israel's intransigence and America's backpedaling is that there is no hope of negotiations on the horizon.” Not good. The only thing unprecedented here is the carnage wrought by a Secretary of State’s slip of the tongue.

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