All these are the enemies of the truth. And the truth is a simple thing.
Kerry keeps speaking of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. But which Palestinians would those be?
Nearly half of the population of the Palestinian Authority lives under Hamas rule. Hamas is arguably the legal government of the entire Palestinian Authority having actually won elections.
Meanwhile President Abbas, the man whom Kerry would like Israel to reach a final status agreement with, was last elected in 2005. He is approaching the eight year of his four year term.
During his heavily hyped visit to Israel, Obama gave a speech in which he said, “The days when Israel could seek peace simply with a handful of autocratic leaders, those days are over. Peace will have to be made among peoples, not just governments.”
But that’s exactly what Kerry is peddling. A worthless deal with a bunch of autocrats.
If Obama really meant what he said, then he would have insisted that Abbas win a current election to show that he actually speaks for the residents of the West Bank and Gaza. It would also be a matter of basic practice for the entire question of Hamas and Gaza to be settled so that there is one unified Palestinian Authority to negotiate with, rather than two Palestinian states.
And yet that’s not on the table here. Anyone who proposes that a man who claims to speak for the Palestinian people should have been elected by them to higher office in this decade would be accused of cynicism and lacking in hope and faith in the mythology of peace.
Obama’s failure to insist on that means that he knows the negotiations are worthless.
The bigger Arab League peace plan that Kerry is proposing is equally worthless. Not only is it worthless in detail, but it’s worthless because, as Obama said in his speech, it represents a handful of autocratic leaders.
The proposal came from the Saudi King who has never run for anything, except perhaps a dessert tray. The Arab League consists of monarchies, tyrannies and a few elected governments that took a severe beating during the Arab Spring and remain unstable even after elections. Aside from the absolutely terrible terms of the agreement, there is absolutely nothing to show that the offer represents any popular will or mandate in the Arab World.
In 2010, John Kerry met with the Emir of Qatar who told him that the best way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be for Israel to give up the Golan Heights to Syria because then Assad could convince Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran to come to the negotiating table.
The full phrasing of the Wikileaks cable is worth quoting here if only because it should serve to disqualify John Kerry from ever being allowed to negotiate anything, including his next yacht buy.
“Senator Kerry told the Amir he knew Qatar could help the U.S. but asked how we deal with those who advocate violence. The Amir said the short answer is to work the Syrian track, which means pushing for Israel’s return of the Golan Heights to Syria. The Amir said return of the Golan is important not just to Syria but also to Hizballah and Iran.”
The last time an American leader performed this well, he was sitting across the table from Stalin at Yalta.
Kerry said that he had “great discussions” with Assad. The Emir told Kerry that Assad was committed to “big change”. Kerry agreed that Assad wants change and peace with Israel. The Emir told Kerry that it’s important that the United States pressure Israel into turning over the Golan Heights.
A year later, the Emir of Qatar was financing a Sunni war to overthrow Assad. Everything that he had told Kerry proved to be utterly worthless. There was no peace on the horizon. The Emir had only been using Kerry and Assad to weaken Israel, before using Hillary Clinton to weaken Assad. There was no peace here. Just the puppetry of diplomatic war.
Kerry learned no lessons from this. If there is anything that Kerry has learned a lesson from in all his years of being played by everyone from the Viet Cong to the Sandinistas to Assad, it’s impossible to tell.