OBAMA'S BIZARRE BAZAAR

Obama is desperately seeking a Middle East peace legacy. Netanyahu had better get all his promises in writing! Even that would be meaningless because there is no way Obama will be able to keep those promises.
　
NOW IT’S THE ADMINISTRATION’S ALLIES WHO ARE CRITICIZING IT … FOR OFFERING TOO MUCH TO KEEP MIDEAST TALKS GOING
By Paul Richter
　
Jewish World Review
October 8, 2010
　
Only a month into a new round of peace talks, the Obama administration is drawing criticism from allies and veteran diplomats that it is giving away too much just to keep negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians from collapsing.
　
Administration officials have offered an assortment of inducements to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend a freeze on Jewish construction in the West Bank for two months. Palestinian officials have threatened to break off the talks, perhaps as early as this week, unless Israel extends the freeze that expired Sept. 26.
　
The U.S. has been wooing Netanyahu for weeks with offers including a squadron of F-35 fighters, support for a long-term Israeli troop presence in a new Palestinian state, and a pledge to veto any anti-Israel resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council. The U.S. also is offering access to its satellites that could offer early warning of attacks.
　
To the Palestinians, the White House is pledging support for their position on the exact location of borders for a future state in exchange for a promise to continue negotiating even if Israel refuses to extend the construction moratorium.
　
While the Obama administration was expected to eventually dole out incentives to keep the negotiations alive, diplomats and other observers say they are surprised that it has offered so much, so early, for such a small victory — a commitment by both sides to keep talking.
　
"From the left to the right, people are saying that the administration is looking desperate," said Robert Danin, a former U.S. official and adviser to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, an envoy to the region for the U.N., U.S., European Union and Russia.
　
The U.S. offers have made waves in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
　
Some Israeli lawmakers have urged Netanyahu to hold out for even more. Others believe the U.S. pledges are so generous that Israel can't rely on Obama to make good on them.
　
"Bizarre Bazaar — Haggling over the Price," was the headline this week in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
　
The Palestinian leadership has been shocked by the U.S. pledge to support a long-term Israeli security presence in the Jordan Valley, on the eastern edge of a future Palestinian state.
　
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was "pale and incredulous" when he announced the offer to his team, according to one person close to him. Palestinians were expecting that any agreement on an Israeli security presence in the Jordan Valley would be negotiated well down the line in the horse-trading before the final deal.
　
The White House's willingness to pay a steep price so early in the game reflects the huge stakes for the administration. Obama has said repeatedly that peace in the Middle East is vital to U.S. national security.
　
"This has become all about American credibility, and that's why there's such an effort to keep it going," said one person close to the talks, who was unwilling to be identified by name because of the sensitivity of the subject.
　
Netanyahu, who wants to preserve good ties to the United States, appears to be leaning toward accepting the deal to extend the construction moratorium if he can garner enough support from some moderate Cabinet members.
　
But one Israeli official said the terms haven't been finalized and that Netanyahu hasn't made up his mind. "We're not there yet," he said.
　
Obama has vowed that the United States would help broker a peace deal, but also has emphasized that "we cannot want it more than the parties themselves." Yet observers say the U.S. appears to be in precisely that position.
　
The U.S. "is projecting the image of wanting it too much, which is not a good place to be in any negotiation," said Robert Malley, who was a chief Mideast peace negotiator for President Bill Clinton.
　
If Netanyahu accepts the deal, complaints about the U.S. approach are likely to subside. If he ends up snubbing Obama, an Arab diplomat said, "people in the region will say, 'You mean you can't even bring along the Israelis?' "