Rubin hits the West

Let's Not Make a Deal -Barry Rubin

The West is desperate to get the Palestinians a state, while both Hamas and Fatah want only an independent country on their own terms, no matter how many dead bodies and material suffering that requires. Why is this?

Because they:

*think they are winning.

*fail to comprehend the concept of compromise
*embrace a culture of patience in which steadfastness wins

*use militancy as a demagogic substitute for peace or prosperity
*understand that he who says "no" gains bargaining leverage
*hold such extreme goals that they cannot be satisfied by any deal with Israel

The West assumes that the Palestinian leadership will be grateful if it is given a state, when it wants to be given all of Israel; that Iran merely need feel secure from U.S. power, when it wants to throw America out of the region; that the Iraqi insurgents want more of a voice for the Sunni minority, when they want to chop the head off the Shi'ite majority; or that Syria just wants the Golan Heights when it desires Lebanon enslaved and Israel destroyed.

There are very good reasons why Western efforts at engagement are never followed by marriage, and why endless confidence-building measures, peace plans, aid packages, and summit conferences keep failing.
(Jerusalem Post)
{The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center at IDC Herzliya and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs}