Weekly Commentary:
Will President Obama Make A Real Gesture To Abbas?
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 12 November 2009
There's no doubt about it: By giving the impression that he could screw
Binyamin Netanyahu to the wall, President Obama and his team suckered
Mahmoud Abbas into taking positions and doing things that now make him look
foolish.
And in this neighborhood, image is almost everything.
How can Obama make it up to Abbas?
Well, he could try again to push Netanyahu into making concessions to the
Palestinians, but, realistically, the kind of unilateral concessions he can
squeeze out of Netanyahu aren't very dramatic or impressive. Some more
roadblocks removed? Additional work permits?
And what can Obama give Abbas? More guns? Some more money? A generous
world has already made the Palestinian street jaded about these things.
But there is one American gesture that would speak to the Palestinian street
and bring great honor to Mahmoud Abbas: freeing terrorist murderer Marwan
Barghouti.
Let's not be naïve.
Marwan Barghouti is hardly a pal of Abbas.
And Barghouti's efforts to reconcile Hamas and Fatah are counterproductive.
But it's not about Barghouti. It's about coming up with a grand gesture for
Abbas.
Like it or not, Palestinian society gives great weight to the freeeing of
terrorists.
And there is only one way that President Obama can bring about the release
of Barghouti as a gesture of support for Abbas: swap Jonathan Pollard for
Barghouti.
It's an offer Israel cannot refuse.
Can Obama pull it off?
There is all kind of folklore about how overwhelming opposition within the
American intelligence community makes it impossible for a president to
release Pollard.
Even if it were true, that wouldn't apply to President Obama. This is a man
who clearly doesn't accept a dictate from the American intelligence and
defense communities.
What Pollard did or didn't do isn't relevant to this story.
He is just a pawn along with Barghouti.
The decision is up to President Obama.
He can restore Abbas' honor in a gesture seen by the Palestinian street in
particular and the Arab world in general as a dramatic and great American
sacrifice or he can leave Abbas to grope his way through the mess the White
House team sucked him into.
Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 12 November 2009
There's no doubt about it: By giving the impression that he could screw
Binyamin Netanyahu to the wall, President Obama and his team suckered
Mahmoud Abbas into taking positions and doing things that now make him look
foolish.
And in this neighborhood, image is almost everything.
How can Obama make it up to Abbas?
Well, he could try again to push Netanyahu into making concessions to the
Palestinians, but, realistically, the kind of unilateral concessions he can
squeeze out of Netanyahu aren't very dramatic or impressive. Some more
roadblocks removed? Additional work permits?
And what can Obama give Abbas? More guns? Some more money? A generous
world has already made the Palestinian street jaded about these things.
But there is one American gesture that would speak to the Palestinian street
and bring great honor to Mahmoud Abbas: freeing terrorist murderer Marwan
Barghouti.
Let's not be naïve.
Marwan Barghouti is hardly a pal of Abbas.
And Barghouti's efforts to reconcile Hamas and Fatah are counterproductive.
But it's not about Barghouti. It's about coming up with a grand gesture for
Abbas.
Like it or not, Palestinian society gives great weight to the freeeing of
terrorists.
And there is only one way that President Obama can bring about the release
of Barghouti as a gesture of support for Abbas: swap Jonathan Pollard for
Barghouti.
It's an offer Israel cannot refuse.
Can Obama pull it off?
There is all kind of folklore about how overwhelming opposition within the
American intelligence community makes it impossible for a president to
release Pollard.
Even if it were true, that wouldn't apply to President Obama. This is a man
who clearly doesn't accept a dictate from the American intelligence and
defense communities.
What Pollard did or didn't do isn't relevant to this story.
He is just a pawn along with Barghouti.
The decision is up to President Obama.
He can restore Abbas' honor in a gesture seen by the Palestinian street in
particular and the Arab world in general as a dramatic and great American
sacrifice or he can leave Abbas to grope his way through the mess the White
House team sucked him into.
Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
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