OP-ED: U.S. and E.U. – Bad Cop and Worse Cop
By MARK LANGFAN
Some Israeli ministers are in shock at the European Union (E.U.) diktat attempting to impose the 1949 ceasefire line, also known as the pre-1967 lines, as the proposed Israeli/Palestinian Authority border. The ministers, including Prime Minister Netanyau, protest that the E.U. is “undermining” the (Secretary of State John) Kerry mission.
I posit that these complaining ministers are deluded; I believe Obama co-planned the E.U. diktat. The E.U. diktat and the Kerry mission are the right and left hand of Obama and the E.U.’s strategy announced by Obama on May 19, 2011:”The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their potential in a sovereign and contiguous state.”
The Israelis are too naive to understand that they have been double-crossed by “no better friend than” President Obama.
The acid proof of the US double-cross is that the only people who are claiming the E.U. diktat is “undermining” Kerry’s mission are the Israelis. No U.S. official is saying anything of the sort. In fact, they are pronouncing the exact opposite.
The Americans are actively using the E.U. diktat as a taser to electrocute Israel into the 1949 “Auschwitz borders” before talks even start. U.S. officials even admitted they were coordinating with the E.U. when they were reported as saying, “’The Europeans are giving us the time and allowing us to try and get the talks going,’ the official said. ‘But if we don’t succeed, they would want to go in other directions and take steps. The Israelis know it very well.’”
On the 17th of July, the U.S. State Department spokesperson “declined” to issue rebuke of the E.U. diktat, adding “We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity.”
It’s a coordinated, concerted U.S.-E.U. ‘bad cop-worse cop’ strategy to force Israel to at least the 1949 lines, vis a vis both the Palestinians and the Syrians, before the real negotiations to the “partition” begin.
The U.S.-E.U. double-crossers are really the least of Israel’s problems. They make up part of Israel’s external enemy. Israel’s real problem is its Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who is the “inside-man” double-crosser. Instead of rejecting the E.U. diktat, Livni is using it to bludgeon Israel into her “two-state” pipe-dream. That’s why she has been promising the E.U. diktat for weeks.
On July 1, a headline read, “In wake of Kerry’s shuttle diplomacy, Livni warns of EU boycott if peace with Palestinians isn’t reached.” Livni’s exact reported quote – in a speech to an Accountants’ Convention – was as follows:
“Livni also urged young activists to rally in favor of a peace agreement with the same fervor that they devoted to protesting against plans to export Israel’s gas. ‘We must ask what kind of state will be the benefactor of these gas reservoirs,’ she said. ‘A democratic, Jewish State of Israel? A binational Arab state? Or perhaps an apartheid state? We can’t deal with the economic issues while ignoring the diplomatic issue and the importance of the two-state solution.’”
So, the sitting Justice Minister of Israel, and minister of Palestinian Negotiations, Livni, practically called Israel an “Apartheid state” if it doesn’t satisfy the Palestinian’s demand for a pre-1967 border state. Livni’s quote makes her the ultimate friend of the BDS (“boycott, divestment and sanctions”) movement.
On 17 July, Livni further empowered the E.U.’s diktat, saying that “the decision is a jolting wakeup call. It saddens me that we have reached this point, but I hope that it will motivate all those who think we can live with the current stalemate.”
The clear implication of ‘Justice’ Minister Livni’s statements is that without the two-state solution, Israel is a bi-national, apartheid, illegal and undemocratic state. So, accept it now no matter what the security risk, or else!” Hence, compared with the E.U. and the U.S., Israel’s Livni is really the “Worst Cop.”
Which brings us to the real question: Is Prime Minister Netanyahu any different from Livni? In a recent (June 20, 2013) Washington Post interview, Prime Minister Netanyahu laid the foundation for Livni’s “peace-at-any-price” due to “bi-national state” logic analysis by answering the following:
Washington Post: So what do you think is the reason you need to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
PM Netanyahu: The reason we need to solve the Palestinian conflict is not because it would substantially improve our standing in the world. The reason we have to resolve it is that we don’t want a bi-national state. I don’t want a bi-national state…
Objectively, the Netanyahu quote can clearly be taken to mean that to Netanyahu, the threat of a bi-national state trumps everything, including security and the threat of Palestinian rockets into Tel Aviv. If this is truly Netanyahu’s theory then there really is no Israeli security “red line” he would not be willing to cross to avoid a “bi-national state.”
With rumors of Netanyahu having “caved” on many of the Palestinian track issues, the situation looks bleak.
(Mark Langfan is a writer who often writes on security issues. He has created an original educational 3D Topographic Map System of Israel to facilitate clear understanding of the dangers facing Israel and its water supply.)
