Will US 'Strategic Imperative' Guide Israeli-Palestinian Talks?
While the Egypt crisis deepens, the Obama administration continues to give priority to an Israel-Palestinian agreement.
At an Aug. 8 meeting with a select group of leaders from American Jewish organizations, US Secretary of State John Kerry sought to enlist support for the “talks about talks” between Israelis and Palestinians that opened in Israel on Aug. 14.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Kerry “repeatedly told the group that the Muslim Brotherhood was not returning to power in Egypt,” an observation particularly relevant in view of the bloody battles pitting military and police units against Ikhwan supporters that commenced across Egypt the day talks got under way in Jerusalem. According to the Post, “He also mentioned that Hezbollah and Iran were distracted with the Syrian conflict.”
Kerry's assessment suggests that Washington sees an opportunity for a historic rapprochement between Israel and Palestine in this moment of expanding chaos and instability engulfing the area from Baghdad to Tunis. Even more than that, Kerry sees Israeli-Arab peace as a weapon in the other, sometimes-related metastasizing divide that Americans now believe defines the region — the struggle between Iran, its allies in Syria and Lebanon against everyone else in the region.
Kerry stressed that ending the conflict is a “strategic imperative” for both Israel and the yet-to-be established state of Palestine. He also made the argument that Israel faces the threat of “diplomatic isolation and a demographic clock” if its occupation, now in its 47th year, continues. He has presumably warned Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of other perils that await the Palestinians if the parties fail to get to “yes.”
