Subscribe to Print Edition | Sun., February 01, 2009 Shvat 7, 5769 | | Israel Time: 00:42 (EST+7)   Back to Homepage web haaretz.com Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Joy of Giving Travel Week's End Anglo File

No magic required By Daniel Levy Tags: Obama, Netanyahu, Israel news President Barack Obama has been thrust into center stage in Israel's general election. Not by choice, of course. Democratic hopeful Obama met with the leading candidates during his own campaign swing through the Middle East last July, and his newly appointed special Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, met with them all this week. If it were up to the U.S. president, one assumes that would be it. But Kadima's spin doctors have other ideas, and have concocted a campaign message suggesting that a victory by Benjamin Netanyahu would lead to a rupture between Israel and the White House. Likud retorts that Netanyahu enjoyed excellent meetings with Obama when the latter was a senator, and that their views on an "economic peace" are closely aligned. If this all sounds a little childish, that's because it is: Neither Barack Obama nor his brand of inspirational hope, combined with an agenda for progressive policy change, are on the Israeli ballot on February 10. Advertisement Despite the attempts to demonstrate difference, all of Israel's major parties are offering a staple diet of more of the same. Whether the label says "continuing the Annapolis process" or "economic peace," we already know what the unappetizing results will be: more improvisation and absence of strategy, and more tactics and permanent avoidance of the difficult decisions that need to be made. On paper, government guidelines always talk about peace. On the ground, though, governmental actions just further entrench the infrastructure of occupation and expand settlements. When it comes to land and peace issues, Israel's leaders have become experts in one thing - postponing decisions. (The Palestinians don't exactly have a strategic plan, either.) In fact, the argument over who will do best with President Obama comes down to this: Who can best assure that Israel will be left to its own devices to pursue ... well, what exactly? There's the rub. We have become tactical masters, improvisational impresarios. But what strategic vision are we seeking to implement? Greater Israel? Then annex the territories and expel the Palestinians. Recognition, peace and a two-state solution? Then dismantle the settlements and end the occupation. So on February 10, most Jewish Israelis will again be choosing not to choose - even if the consequences will be an ever-deteriorating national security environment in Israel, and even if the option of a democratic Israel with a Jewish character is receding with such speed that it is unlikely to outlast the Obama administration. (To be fair, voters for the far-right parties and those supporting Meretz will be expressing a choice.) America and its new president do, of course, matter. The U.S. plays a key role in setting the stage for this exercise in improvisation. Without American facilitation, the make-believe, fairy-tale world of the never-ending, oh-we-are-so-close "peace process" cannot be sustained. And in this fairy tale, Tzipi Livni is not the Good Witch of the South, nor is Benjamin Netanyahu the Wicked Witch of the East. Rather, they are both competing to lead a body politic that more closely resembles a hybrid of the Cowardly Lion, the Brainless Scarecrow and the Heartless Tin Man. The question for President Obama and his new envoy, former senator Mitchell, will be whether to maintain the fiction, or to chart a bold, game-changing course to resolve this conflict. The former would entail continued American support for a West Bank strategy taken from classic counterinsurgency doctrine: supporting moderates through economic assistance, security training and a political embrace. However, the defining characteristic of the Palestinian situation is not the Fatah-Hamas rift, but a very different variable: namely, a continued hostile occupation that includes a dispersed civilian settler population. By not addressing this and by excluding Hamas based on political preconditions, and not just behavioral ones (cease-fire, end to violence), the prospects of any sustainable success for this strategy are totally negated. The existing approach also invites occasional American spats with Israel over such policies as settlement expansion and checkpoints. But these distractions deal only with the problem's symptoms, not its cause. Settlement and closure policies are a derivative of the lack of a recognized border for Israel, of no Palestinian state and of no end to occupation. Settlements need to be removed, not just frozen in place. A game-changing approach would address these issues or, in other words, the causes. Such an approach would probably require a U.S-led plan to resolve the conflict, together with regional and international partners. This plan would also have to address Israel's core and legitimate concerns: avoidance of a security and governance vacuum, and of threats from the areas Israel evacuates (probably necessitating deployment of NATO or other forces), international recognition of the new border and a finality of claims, Israeli sovereign discretion over its own immigration policy, and a regional framework based on the Arab Peace Initiative, whereby Arab states establish relations with Israel. Israel's challenge would be to strategically and positively respond to such a plan and the opportunity it offers - or, even better, to initiate just such a game-changing move itself. To stretch that "Wizard of Oz" metaphor a little further: No magical wizard is really needed. Rather, a determined American president who can speak in a language of common sense and shared interests to Israel's leaders, and in so doing help Israel to locate its collective and long underutilized brain, heart and courage. Daniel Levy, a senior fellow at the New America and Century Foundations, was previously an adviser in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, and the lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva Initiative. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Every Jew for himself Study: U.S. Jewry's willingness to strengthen Israel ties very low. Turkey's protest Report: Turkish PM Erdogan says 'Palestine today is an open-air prison'.   1.   CONFLICT RESOLUTION 00:26  |  DAVID 01/01/09   2.   Good analysis, but weak in failing to account for Jewish history. 00:52  |  David turner 01/01/09   3.   Good analysis, but weak, 2 00:53  |  David Turner 01/01/09   4.   Good analysis, but weak, 4 00:55  |  David Turner 01/01/09   5.   Final section (only due to length considerations) 00:58  |  David Turner 01/01/09   6.   to david turner: don`t make me laugh 00:56  |  jozef 01/01/09   7.   A strategic plan? What for? (3rd try) 00:29  |  zeev 01/01/09

Read & React Four rockets fired from Gaza strike Negev in new truce violation Responses: 26 Gideon Levy: Israel's courts are accomplices to war crimes Responses: 5 Netanyahu: Iran won't get its hands on nuclear weapons Responses: 18 Israel plans to build up West Bank corridor on contested land Responses: 26 Top Hamas leader in first public appearance since Gaza war: We won Responses: 55 More Headlines 00:36 Four rockets strike Negev, one landing near two kindergartens 00:14 Israel plans to build up West Bank corridor on contested land 00:25 Elections 2009 / Netanyahu: Iran won't get its hands on nuclear weapons 00:42 Hamas delegation arrives in Iran in effort to reinforce support for the militant group 00:32 Peres: Hamas should have learned a lesson like Nasrallah 00:07 Spain FM says material sent by Israel should help reverse war crime charge 00:45 Vandals attack Venezuela synagogue in 'worst ever' attack on Jewish community 00:30 Bar Refaeli picked as the new face of Marks and Spencer's lingerie line 00:42 Israeli tourism to Turkey takes nosedive following Erdogan-Peres spat 00:06 Israel pays 1.5 million pounds to family of British journalist killed in 2003 Gaza shooting 00:39 Belgium to stop exporting 'arms that bolster the IDF' to Israel 00:57 AMIRA HASS / Life in the Gaza Strip is not 'back to normal' 00:39 Global Google glitch panics millions by flagging Internet sites as dangerous 00:30 Israel launches tourism campaign to market the state as a safe destination Previous Editions Select Day 30 jan 29 jan 28 jan 27 jan 26 jan 25 jan 23 jan 22 jan 21 jan 20 jan 19 jan 18 jan

Special Offers Advertisement Summer in Israel Israeli style - Tzofim Chetz V'Keshet 2009 Passover Vacations The BEST Passover Vacations around ? Mexico, Arizona and Florida Blue And White Forever Israel Army T-shirts Wear with Proud Donate the Soldiers Kit You can make a direct IMPACT! on the life of an Israeli soldier State of Israel Bonds During this time of market volatility, Israel bonds can help. SURF RAMBAM Keep current about new-wave medical care, education and research. Camp Kimama Israel 2009 The best place for your children this summer Fattal Hotel Chain Perfectly located hotels on best resorts of Israel. Eldan Rent a Car Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations Jewish Singles Personal Ads Find the love of your life on JDate.com Junkyard Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt

Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |

| Makom: Engaging on Israel | Search engine marketing

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.

© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved