WaPo: Don't just be tough on Israel

Snippets from WaPo, but via the JTA.

Rather than pocketing Mr. Netanyahu's initial concessions -- he gave a speech on Palestinian statehood and suggested parameters for curtailing settlements accepted by previous U.S. administrations -- Mr. Obama chose to insist on an absolutist demand for a settlement "freeze." Palestinian and Arab leaders who had accepted previous compromises immediately hardened their positions; they also balked at delivering the "confidence-building" concessions to Israel that the administration seeks. Israeli public opinion, which normally leans against the settler movement, has rallied behind Mr. Netanyahu.

If that's true I might consider converting to Judaism myself and pray to YHWH to intervene on behalf of that strange folk, the Israeli Zionists. I mean, lemmesee, they 'normally lean against the settler movement' except when a settlement freeze is demanded, then they 'rally behind Mr. Netanyahu'. They can't have been 'leaning against the settler movement' all that much: one demand by the Prez and a chilled mocha latte later and they're rallying behind Mr Yahoo, just like that. And a fourty plus year old demand is now, in the eyes of WaPo, an 'absolutist' demand. No one beats Zionists at Orwellian NewSpeak...

And Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, which were active during the Bush administration's final year, have yet to resume.

U.S. and Israeli officials are working on a compromise that would allow Israel to complete some housing now under construction while freezing new starts for a defined period. Arab states would be expected to take steps in return. Such a deal will expose Mr. Obama to criticism in the Arab world -- a public relations hit that he could have avoided had he not escalated the settlements dispute in the first place. At worst, the president may find himself diminished among both Israelis and Arabs before discussions even begin on the issues on which U.S. clout is most needed. If he is to be effective in brokering a peace deal, Mr. Obama will need to show both sides that they can trust him -- and he must be tough on more than one country.

So, in the name of 'balance', Obama is expected not just to be 'tough' on the burglars, but equally so on the burglarised and the onlookers (quasi) sympathetic to them. This, we consider 'justice'... No wonder they hate us...