Peter Beinart - A Detailed Overview of Obama and Israel

Peter Beinart: Obama Betrayed Ideals on Israel

This article was originally presented in March of 2012 as an adaptation of his new publication, The Crisis of Zionism. In this article he provides a detailed overview of the growing crisis of US - Israeli relations.  In essence, Beinart documents the reality that Obama raised the bar very high for the Netanyahu government by insisting on a freeze on the growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.  The problem is not the demand for a freeze, but the fact that he failed in his effort. Because of that, he is unlikely to pursue that option again, at least for a long while.

Beinart also documents the internal power struggle between George Mitchell, who had been appointed special envoy to Israel and the Palestinians, and Dennis Ross, now at the State Department, a person with strong credentials on addressing the Israeli - Palestinian conflict.  On that front, George Mitchell also lost out to Dennis Ross and eventually resigned.

The over all thrust of the article is not encouraging at all.   It is worth reading to get a good glimpse of how diplomatic negotiations work, both internally - within the State Department and the White House, and visa vie the external relationship with Israel and Netanyahu.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/03/11/peter-beinart-obama-betrayed-ideals-on-israel.html