Change the Conversation

The poohbahs of the American foreign policy establishment were predictably dismissive of the “Deal of the Century” put forward by President Trump. “A sham from start to finish,” was Martin Indyk’s verdict.

Aaron David Miller, who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, complained that Trump has broken the mold of the peace processing in place since 1993 — encouraging talks, building trust, bridging gaps.

Quite right. Like the little boy in “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” Trump noticed something that appears to have escaped all those caught up in the process: Nothing has changed in nearly 20 years since Yasser Arafat, at Camp David, rejected Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s proffered Palestinian state, in almost all the territory captured in the 1967 war, and launched the Second Intifada. Well, actually, Mahmoud Abbas rejected a more generous offer from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert eight years later.

Even talks have been few and far between. Abbas told the Washington Post editorial board at the outset of the Obama administration that he had no interest in talking to Israel — a stance he maintained even in the face of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s declaration of a full settlement freeze. Abbas preferred to rely on American pressure. And that would come in plenty. The Obama administration declared every new balcony built on an apartment in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood — and anywhere beyond the 1949 armistice lines — to be a breach of international law.