Hillary Clinton the Devil's Advocate

3 November 2009
Hillary Clinton the Devil's Advocate
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became the 'devil's advocate' at yeserday's meeting of Arab Foreign ministers in Marrakesh when she praised Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for limiting settlement activities. A total freeze on settlements has already been established as a pre-requisite for peace talks but Clinton announced that in her opinion Netanyahu's and considered 'concession' was sufficient for the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.

In public, the Arab ministers publicly voiced their disappointment with the American's change of emphasis which they described as undermining the peace process. But we do not know what they told Clinton in secret during closed meetings, especially as the US secretary of state reiterated her previous demand that moderate Arab countries would take steps towards normalization with the present Israeli Government. This, she felt, would encourage the Israelis to move ahead with the peace process.

We greatly fear that Arab foreign ministers might agree to the new US stance on settlements and pressurize the Palestinian [National] Authority to give up its insistence that a total freeze of settlement activity in the West Bank and Jerusalem is a non-negotiable pre-requisite to returning to the talks. Several Arab countries have already contacted President Abbas, urging him to accept President Barack Obama's invitation to a tripartite meeting with Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's session in New York. The heir apparent of one of the Arab Gulf's emirates even told the Palestinian president not to anger this US president (who he considered the most sympathetic of all American leaders to the Arab cause and the most desirous of brokering a peace deal) by hesitating.

The Palestinian president should stick to his position and not return to negotiations with this extremist Israeli government which aims to annex Palestinian land, judaize occupied Jerusalem, divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and build a synagogue in its square.

There is no point in resuming negotiations under such provocation unless the aim is to acquit Netanyahu and his government of all blame and end the international isolation imposed on him and his government because of his extremist stands.

President Obama's administration has lost its credibility in the Arab and Islamic worlds with its disgraceful backtracking on its former opposition to settlement activities; it now seems little different to George Bush's government, if not worse.

President Obama's pro-Israeli stance, coupled with his continuation of the bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will have a negative impact on his image in the Islamic world where he is increasingly perceived as a weak and hesitant person, caving in to the Israeli lobby in the hope of salvaging his collapsing popularity.