The Culminations of a Bunch of Culminations

Barack Obama has polarized like no president has done before. Not exactly the confidence boost one would want to give with 2012 coming up, especially after how George W. Bush laissez faire attitude towards Israel led to him gaining in the Jewish vote in his reelection. Hell, for some reason, Slate, the cattiest of publications, let Elliot Spitzer, a man rich in experience as governor of the state with the most Jews, weigh in on the interpretive dance-off between Obama and Bibi in DC this weekend. Last night began the culmination: Bibi played the grand finale to the AIPAC Policy Conference, where he told a huge chunk of the friends of Israel how they will vote in 2012. And then today, he was the 49th foreign leader, and second Israeli prime minister after Menachem Began did so in 1978.

It was nice of Howard Kohr, AIPAC's Executive Director, to come on between the two as a warm-up for Bibi, and tell the press today that Obama doesn't know what he's talking about. So will Bibi drive the stake in tonight? If what National Security Council leader Yaakov Amrari is the advice Bibi is following, expect the posturing mostly align with Obama. Amrari sees the dispute as what it really is: the media distortion of Obama's words to a soundbite (this is the same conclusion you can draw from the analysis on today's Diane Rehm show, but there still is some question into the hostility of Netanyahu, which can be traced back to the existential safety Israel truly desires), and ignore the land swaps that would be part of the negotiations. Amrari points out that this swap would leave too many Israelis outside of Israeli borders for one reason: this coalition is very dependent on the votes of settlers to keep the small parties, the kingmakers with enough votes to hold that power.

Netanyahu's speech is more of the same: agreeing with Obama, but as an alum of MIT, his tone shows he is fighting, mostly because he doesn't think Obama understands what Israel needs. However, he knows what to tell AIPAC and lawmakers. Still, his address to AIPAC included one clause that Abbas has not been about: recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. For how similar his vision is to Obama, his tone may be the driver that

Netanyahu's speech to Congress looked and sounded like a George W. Bush speech to the same group: lots of standing ovations and no booing (looking at you, Joe Wilson, for ending the streak for Obama). Hell, it may have sounded better because of his obviously tighter grasp on the English language. But the sticking points are very obvious:

1. Hamas is a terrorist organization: They did condemn the killing of Bin Laden, and Netanyahu was wise to use that statement as a rallying around the flag moment for the US legislators. Calling them the Palestinian Al-Qaeda was a bit far, but he has a point, as they quickly accepted the 1967 borders, but still stayed with the goal of destroying Israel, and any Congressperson who doesn't stand to clap for that would be sealing their reelection loss.

2. He agrees with Obama on the swaps: June 4, 1967, didn't work, so there must be swaps. The only issue I have with this is the way he phrases it seems to put him in opposition to Obama. Some people only read tone, and for that reason I think his AIPAC speech might drive a lot of Jewish voters from Obama when he has done much more for Israel (I know, by doing very little) than Bush did (he of putting the Palestinians to election and allowing Hamas to be elected).

3. He wants to sit down to negotiate: Every Prime Minister since Rabin, save Ariel Sharon, has been willing to negotiate. Netanyahu is no difference, and as the first Likud leader to accept two states. Danny Danon and Mahmoud Abbas both made unilateral action sound destructive.

4. Rockets: The rockets need to stop or there will be more incursions. The rockets equal war, and if they don't stop, well, that isn't peace. There is no other way to look at it, and the people who justify it are misinformed.

5. Settlers: C-SPAN opened up to their listeners, and one American Orthodox Jew (he called the West Bank יהודה ושמרון) called to criticize Netanyahu, saying that he had no plan for the settlers. However, he did: the land swaps will bring in many of those settlers, but some will be forced to move. I think that the one sticking point will be Hebron, the second most holy site in Judaism, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, מערת המכפלה, is there, and they will not be willing to put it under the jurisdiction of the Palestinians. Especially with the coalition, this will be the main sticking point for any final agreement.

Having Congressional leaders meet with Netanyahu after his speech put the ball in Abbas' court. Especially with Fayyad's health issue (now not a heart attack) yesterday, Abbas needs to show himself as a stable partner for this to move forward. Otherwise, the American blame will go to the Palestinians, and we will see Abbas and Danon's pieces in the New York Times come to fruition this fall.

What is this water falling from the sky?

Some news from outside the Middle East is my focus right now after my return to the States (more on that later). My attention was turned to Myanmar (and like Jay Peterman, "it will always be Burma to me") where Virginia senator Jim Webb, a big part of Obama's ability to take that state, left this week for the remote capital of the country now dominated by a military junta that has created a cult of personality around the armed forces. His purpose? To free a CRAZY AMERICAN, which he did. Yes, John Yettaw may be an American citizen and veteran, but he has made it even harder for democracy advocate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to try to make inroads against the authoritarian Myanmar(an)(ese) military regime, as she has been given an additional 18 months of house arrest for letting in a visitor who swam across a lake and happened to be very ill.
It may seem like things are looking down for the junta, but things seem to be mighty fine. China continues to support them, and they have been partially legitimized by Webb's visit. Sure, the State Department said that nothing changes, but Webb still wants changes, especially with the elections planned for next year.
The elections are where the junta will learn their roll. Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to participate because she was once married to someone born outside of the country. Her National League for Democracy will still be able to participate, but she will have to watch from the sidelines as one of the most unfair constitutions comes into play, where the military can determine whether a coup is necessary (if the government isn't "democratic" enough). The Mon and Wa in the North are already planning to take up arms against the junta if the constitution comes into play since it will disarm the militias protecting these ethnic groups (and running an illegal drug trade on the hilly borders of China). The Burmese military usuall stays in the lowlands near Yangon or the worst-planned capital in the world, Napyitaw. I expect the junta to get some sort of air force with the help of the Chinese before implementing the constitution. If it does come to that, the US needs to seriously consider stepping in to protect these groups, and this will include having to take a firm stance with China on the matter.
In other news, the Israeli government (and Peace Now confirms this) has stopped giving permits to new settlements in the West Bank. This will make it so that permanent settlement will stop, but the IDF will still need to deal with groups like Youth for Israel, which likes to send in young religious Zionists to set up temporary camp on land in the West Bank, but are never too much for the IDF to handle.
Another big development comes with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's visit to Washington this week, where today he and Obama agreed to acquiesce to some demands from the Israeli government for the new Palestinian state. The question is whether other Arab states will also agree to the stipulation that the Palestinian state be demilitarized and the right of return be exchanged for monetary compensation. The next question will be Hamas, who look relatively moderate after dealing with a takeover of a mosque in Tunneltown, Gaza (Rafah) by the fundamentalist Warriors of God. This is still all relative, so I wouldn't bet my life savings on it (I would bet $10, if I can get some 10-1 odds, which makes me wonder, is there somewhere to bet on Middle East peace? Yessir).
And welcome the Swedish to the blood libel-style conspiracy fold. A Swedish paper claims that as part of the recent New York metropolitan area money laundering scheme, the IDF was killing Palestinians and selling their organs. They also have some testimony. This comes on the heels of the Romanian ova-trafficking claims, and don't forget what goes into matzah and hamentashen: that's right, the blood of your child! It's really sort of funny how this whole blood-libel thing works, because it is ALL PLAGIARISM (Even The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was.) So anyways, maybe finding something REAL and TANGIBLE will make things easier for you.

Finally, I'm back in the United States, and I have to say I am very sad, but there are just some things that are way better here (partial list: pickup basketball, DIM SUM, THAI FOOD, PRESENCE OF BURRITOS). But many of the people I met in Israel endeared the land to me and I can't wait to go back, and I am definitely considering making aliyah. This is also the first time I've spent more than a month abroad, and the shock of being back here was most evident in the jet lag, which lasted 4 days. WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THAT? Anyways, I'm going to keep up the blogging about the Middle East while I'm here, maybe with some occasional reports from my friend Peanut.
UPDATE: Today was the first time I have seen rain in 2 months. I decided to go umbrella-less in order to get the full effect after having missed it for so long. Still, I'm pretty sure I'll get sick of it by the next time it rains.

Two Stories from Two Sides of a Fence

This originally appeared here.

First off, I realize that my focus has been primarily directed towards Israel, but I will bring up this piece of news from last week: the Palestinian Authority shutting down operations at the Al-Jazeera offices in the West Bank after a guest on the network, Farouk Qaddoumi, accused Mahmoud Abbas of playing a part in the death of former PA chairman Yasir Arafat.
Of course this rivalry goes way back, but what's better is that Abbas admits that his criticism of the network is nearly baseless; he doesn't have time to watch TV (so maybe someone is telling him what they're saying?).
This also comes on the heel of the IMF's declaration that the West Bank has had one of its best years economically. Abbas and the PA have taken some steps to hegemony, but I have to agree with Dr. Lynch that this is not how you want to establish this power going forward. Government transparency is essential, and while the network won't be able to report directly, five of their top seven stories at the time of Lynch's post were about the expulsion and resulting effects.
At the same time, on the Israeli side, education is essentially being Americanized (just like this AP article, which is, for some reason, a direct translation from Yisrael Hayom aka Israel Today aka Bibi-Ton (during the run up to the election in February each word was like a tongue slowly licking the bottom of Netanyahu's feet) minus the added quotes from new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman).
Minister of Education Gideon Saar told the Knesset, "No other country in the world, in its official curriculum, would treat the fact of its founding as a catastrophe." This is true, especially for third-graders. When was the last time a third-grade teacher in the US wasn't essentially feeding propaganda to his/her students? Never! The beginning of consideration of revisionist history theory in US public schools begins during high school, and it was something required quite a bit of adjusting for me (Smallpox blankets? DAYUMN!). So, whatever. Let the children believe, as they do in every country in elementary school, that their independence was a natural action that some supernatural force decided was just and opportune.
Let's look at this a little further in depth:

The decision applied to a third-grade textbook for Arab schoolchildren. Jewish textbooks make no mention of the term.

This sounds a lot like you're trying to make them forget it. Even though Saar noted that teachers are still "free to discuss the personal and national tragedies that befell Palestinians during the war," taking it out of a book is the equivalent of the deplorable revionist history that some Palestinian textbooks were employing during the Second Intifada and probably still to this day. And there is something to say about subtracting from a history book. The discussion may still be able to stand in, but to leave this injustice out of the book is to say it lacks truth. Another step towards hegemony that will not end well. And for the Jewish textbooks, they do not mention of the term, but falsely revise it to say it was a completely voluntary flight.
Avigdor Lieberman, at the time a Knesset member said Education Minister Yuli Tamir was "expressing a sort of political masochist spirit and ... a total lack of national pride." I think it was more reconciling with the truth and allowing an ethnic group that is treated pretty well compared to under the PA or Hamas. Compare this to black children in the US: Do teachers skip slavery and the civil rights movement and tell them everything was just hunky-dory? No, they give them some narrative that may not explain everything, but establishes some sort of basis for learning more about the movement and how it led them to their current position in society.
Yossi Sarid gives the quote I agree with the most in his response to Saar's actions:

"Zionism has already won in many ways, and can afford to be more confident. We need not be afraid of a word."

Revisionist history has already done so much for moving Israeli society forward and making sure that it doesn't become like totalitarian states that suppress any possibly negative historical facts from public acknowledgement. It looks like these kids are going to have to wait until they get to college.