I previously posted about the latest rash of scandalous photos coming out of Afghanistan showing U.S. military atrocities under Obama’s command, and wondering if the media would pick up on it the way they did when it was Bush’s army… Well, here’s a twist I wasn’t expecting: yes, one of the U.S. media, Rolling Stone, [...]
Jeffrey Goldberg, a correspondent for the Atlantic, cast a spotlight on yet another disgustingly overt example of pure bias in the mainstream media, particularly at the anti-Semitic Reuters newswire. He points to a Reuters news item which contains the following despicable sentences: Police said it was a “terrorist attack” — Israel’s term for a Palestinian [...]
In the [sparse] reporting of the Palestinians’ massacre of the Fogel family, several newspapers stand out with their distorted sense of “balance”, i.e., where they feel overwhelmingly uncomfortable describing the barbarity of the Palestinians without at least taking a swipe or two at the Israelis, no matter how patently irrelevant or disgustingly disrespectful it comes [...]
The U.S. As An Honest Broker
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Michael Singh of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy writes a great analysis of the United States’ role as an “honest broker” in the Middle East, especially with recent developments.
He discusses the history of the term “honest broker” and what it means, going back to the original “honest broker”, Otto von Bismarck, and discusses whether it applies to our position today. He intelligently refutes claims that America’s friendship with Israel detracts from the “honesty” in “honest brokering” and explains that just the opposite is true:
…it is not indifference or equidistance that makes America an “honest broker” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; if seeking these attributes, the parties would more likely turn once again to a disinterested but friendly country like Norway. Rather, America’s status rests upon the combination of impartiality with respect to the particulars of an agreement, strong relationships with and ability to provide assistance to both key parties to the dispute, and a unique diplomatic standing in the broader region. Thus we can dismiss two of the arguments often made in marshalling a case that America is not an honest broker — that it is too close to Israel on the one hand, or not close enough to Hamas on the other. Maintaining the trust and confidence of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority are critical to successfully convening and concluding negotiations, as any agreement will require both to stake much on the good faith and reliability of the United States and its assurances.
Being an honest broker is not a zero-sum game. Strong American relations with one party to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict need not detract from relations with the others. Indeed, insofar as they seek a resolution to the conflict, a close American relationship with Israel benefits the Palestinians, and vice versa. This is not to say that a “tough” approach to one party or another is inconsistent with being an honest broker, simply that such an approach should be carefully aimed at making progress toward a resolution and calibrated to preserve future co-operation.
Singh ends the essay addressing the recent development of Obama’s administration coming down hard on Israel and their settlements’ natural growth, and how it affects America’s effectiveness at “honest brokering”:
In this respect, the Obama administration’s decision to take a stand on the issue of “natural growth” in settlements was tactically unsound. Securing the agreement of hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition to the sort of settlement freeze (near-comprehensive but with an exception for “natural growth”) that prevailed under Prime Ministers Sharon and Olmert would have been a significant accomplishment and served as a good basis for future progress. “Natural growth,” on the other hand, is a peripheral issue, with little relevance either to Palestinians’ quality of life or to the ultimate disposition of territory in the West Bank. As time has passed, the fracas over this issue has stalled the peace process and shifted its focus from Arab-Israeli to American-Israeli relations.
According to recent polling, the dispute has already taken a toll, having diminished Israelis’ confidence in the United States. That confidence — which former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert recently wrote was vital to Israel’s decision to pull settlers out of Gaza and engage in the Annapolis peace process — is a valuable asset indeed. Its diminution would not only put in question the United States’ effectiveness as an honest broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but would be a setback for America, Israel, Palestinian Authority, Arab leaders, and others who face common threats across the region and for whom American-Israel cooperation is of mutual benefit. The test now for President Obama is to manoeuvre out of the present crisis with that co-operation intact, and with the stage set for progress on the peace process, Iran, and the rest of America’s Middle East agenda.