Condoleezza Rice And The Law Of Diminished Expectations

After The Camp David Accords, Oslo, and The Disengagement--after Begin, Rabin, and Sharon, now we have Olmert.

Israeli source says US Secretary of State Rice was 'amazed' by Israeli gestures to Palestinians presented during three-way meeting with defense minister, Palestinian prime minister.

So what does it take to "amaze" Condoleezza Rice? 35 pages of restrictions that will be eased by Israel:

The defense minister said during the meeting that Israel planned to remove the Mevo Horon outpost, in addition to two other outposts already removed.

Barak also announced that 700 Palestinian police officers would be allowed to enter Jenin, and that a checkpoint and 50 dirt roadblocks would also be removed, easing the Palestinians' movement between the West Bank cities of Jenin, Tulkarm, Qalqilya and Ramallah.

Additional gestures presented in the meeting include:

• The establishment of a Palestinian police station in the B areas.
• The transfer of 25 armored vehicles to the Palestinians.
• Ease of restriction on Palestinian public figures.
• Building two intersections for the Palestinians in the Hebron area.
• Advancing the establishment of industrial zones in Jericho and hebron.
• Increasing the number of laborers allowed to work in Israel to 5,000.

So let me get this straight--Rice, for the umpteenth time pressures Israel to unilaterally make concessions that leave her open to terrorist attacks.

And this surprises Rice--where has she been. How many times have we been down this path before? More to the point, just what are we supposed to think this will lead to?

David Hazony notes the mirage at work here:

Nobody on either side of the fence really thinks Israel and the PA–which anyway represents only West Bank Palestinians now–are likely to reach any kind of meaningful peace agreement in the next year. Nor does anyone think that the present Israeli government is capable of implementing all the oft-avowed “painful concessions” such a deal would entail. Olmert is no Begin or Sharon. He is, instead, the man who brought you Lebanon II, probably the most inconclusive war in Middle East history. Nor is Bush really looking for dramatic achievements which can backfire on the electoral side and land his successor with a still-deeper mess. This is a dance of shadows, a mirage.

Dancing With The Stars it ain't.

Technorati Tag: Israel.