Missing the Big Picture

The New York Times wonders whether Annapolis will be a name long remembered. Wrong question.

It will, no matter how this conference ends up. I think it will end particularly badly for Israel, regardless of the outcome, since you've got so many nations that seek its destruction present hoping to make them concede ever more to the Palestinians who have shown themselves completely incapable of fulfilling any of their obligations.

Annapolis will go down in the same way that Wye, Oslo and Madrid did. Even the successful diplomatic endeavors are failures - precisely because the pseudorealists think that if you write sufficient paper, it covers up all the problems on the ground, including the most intractable of all - that the Palestinians do not seek a 2-state solution at all, but instead seek Israel's destruction.

Indeed, the Palestinians can't even agree on the timeline for Israel's destruction. Hamas isn't represented at Annapolis, despite controlling Gaza. Hamas seeks Israel's destruction as quickly as possible, and Hamas is more than willing to turn Gaza into a wasteland to do so (well, more of a wasteland than it already is because of Palestinian dedication to destroying Israel and not enough dedication to civil administrative infrastructure). Fatah still seeks Israel's destruction, but they're willing to use the diplomatic route to accomplish this.

Hamas warns of more attacks against Israel, even with Annapolis on the agenda, and they're busy chastising the Arab countries for participating in this farce. Hamas is a bunch of true believers in the cause of Israel's destruction, and are unwilling to concede on the theological point, even if it's a lie in order to further bring about Israel's destruction.

Caroline Glick has it right. This is an American folly. After spending years stating that the US would not deal with terrorists, that's exactly what the Bush Administration and its diplomatic corps are doing. They're giving Fatah legitimacy it does not deserve nor warrant. That, despite the White House saying that they wont push the Olmert government into making concessions. It's funny they say this, given that the Olmert government is more than willing to make concessions that threaten Israel's long term security interests without US pressure.