Apparently, then, this is what ?diplomacy? is all about: Saying one thing, but consistently doing another.
Or maybe it?s all just a game of chess - that challenging contest so favored by politicians and other strategists - where the one player tries to outguess the other and move boldly forward, hoping the risks he takes along the way will remain unseen?
In either instance, as we are currently witnessing, America and Israel are both dab hands at the game.
The United States issued a stern warning to the Palestinian Authority via the US Consulate in Jerusalem: Should ?Palestinian Prime Minister? Mahmoud Abbas fall after all America?s political investment in him, the Bush administration would forthwith end its support for a Palestinian state.
Abbas fell, and Israel, perhaps somehow believing that the Bush administration would carry out its promise, promptly declared - without being able to completely hide some sense of satisfaction - that the Road Map was history, right along with the PA premier.
But America, its bluff called and finding nowhere to turn, continued right on down the road. You know, the way you do when you stumble in full view of a crowd of people and realize the best thing you can do is act as if nothing untoward just happened. Thus, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Saturday the US remained committed to the Road Map to a Palestinian state, as it was the only deal on the table.
This left Israel with nowhere to turn, and the foreign ministry then fired off a statement saying Jerusalem would not deal with anyone representing Arafat.
That knee-jerk response likely triggered peals of laughter over in Ramallah. Certainly the Arafat Authority, with its Fatah faction majority in the ?Palestinian parliament?, does nothing except what it is allowed to do by big chief Yasser.
Instead of standing firm on its statement, and placing Ahmed Qurei, Arafat?s appointment to replace Abbas, right there on the ?irrelevance shelf? alongside his besieged leader, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom wiped the egg off his face and followed Washington?s example of ?how to appear to be unfazed even when you clearly are.?
The result of all this is that while Israel talks about ?never? dealing with Arafat or one of his marionettes, Arafat and his puppet of choice move resolutely forward, without a shadow of a doubt that Israel will do exactly as they/he says: Israel will negotiate with an Arafat underling, and the puppeteer will determine how much hudna there is, and how much terror there is, and everything in between.
If it weren?t such a deadly recipe for disaster, it would be laughable. But, while Qurei was issuing transparently insincere condemnations all the while moving ahead to forge his own government (that is, Arafat?s new government), no one is laughing down on Emek Refaim today, nor down at Tzrifin.
[Courtesy of Jerusalem Newswire.]
Or maybe it?s all just a game of chess - that challenging contest so favored by politicians and other strategists - where the one player tries to outguess the other and move boldly forward, hoping the risks he takes along the way will remain unseen?
In either instance, as we are currently witnessing, America and Israel are both dab hands at the game.
The United States issued a stern warning to the Palestinian Authority via the US Consulate in Jerusalem: Should ?Palestinian Prime Minister? Mahmoud Abbas fall after all America?s political investment in him, the Bush administration would forthwith end its support for a Palestinian state.
Abbas fell, and Israel, perhaps somehow believing that the Bush administration would carry out its promise, promptly declared - without being able to completely hide some sense of satisfaction - that the Road Map was history, right along with the PA premier.
But America, its bluff called and finding nowhere to turn, continued right on down the road. You know, the way you do when you stumble in full view of a crowd of people and realize the best thing you can do is act as if nothing untoward just happened. Thus, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Saturday the US remained committed to the Road Map to a Palestinian state, as it was the only deal on the table.
This left Israel with nowhere to turn, and the foreign ministry then fired off a statement saying Jerusalem would not deal with anyone representing Arafat.
That knee-jerk response likely triggered peals of laughter over in Ramallah. Certainly the Arafat Authority, with its Fatah faction majority in the ?Palestinian parliament?, does nothing except what it is allowed to do by big chief Yasser.
Instead of standing firm on its statement, and placing Ahmed Qurei, Arafat?s appointment to replace Abbas, right there on the ?irrelevance shelf? alongside his besieged leader, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom wiped the egg off his face and followed Washington?s example of ?how to appear to be unfazed even when you clearly are.?
The result of all this is that while Israel talks about ?never? dealing with Arafat or one of his marionettes, Arafat and his puppet of choice move resolutely forward, without a shadow of a doubt that Israel will do exactly as they/he says: Israel will negotiate with an Arafat underling, and the puppeteer will determine how much hudna there is, and how much terror there is, and everything in between.
If it weren?t such a deadly recipe for disaster, it would be laughable. But, while Qurei was issuing transparently insincere condemnations all the while moving ahead to forge his own government (that is, Arafat?s new government), no one is laughing down on Emek Refaim today, nor down at Tzrifin.
[Courtesy of Jerusalem Newswire.]