Joe Biden and the Rabble-Rousers

The rabble-rousers are back. For several days, the Middle East has seemed to be on the brink of implosion again. Given the decaying situation on the ground, that should not come as a surprise, but a number of observers want to believe that the hour of truth is approaching: Israeli power could waver and all the ingredients for a third Intifada are combined.

On the Israeli side, the rabble-rousers are from the extreme right, secular or religious, with which Benjamin Netanyahu has chosen to link his political destiny as a leader. Thus, a minister of Shas — an ultra-orthodox party — has just very willingly created a major diplomatic crisis with the United States by announcing the construction of 1,600 dwelling units in East Jerusalem reserved for Jews while American Vice President Joe Biden had come to work out the last small details for the resumption of the Israel-Palestine peace negotiations. The humiliation Israel inflicted on its surest ally provoked an abrupt reaction from the White House, which seized the opportunity to set a sort of ultimatum: Its emissary, George Mitchell, will only get back on track to Tel Aviv in exchange for a guarantee of a halt on the construction of all new colonies in the occupied territories, as well as the formulation of a peace plan that touches on the question of East Jerusalem. Did Benjamin Netanyahu miscalculate by betting on the fact that Barack Obama would be too weak domestically to allow him to use an iron fist with Israel? What is sure is that certain counselors in the president’s entourage would like to see, from now on, a change of government in Israel. The crisis is real.

And then there are the rabble-rousers from the Palestinian side who were not about to miss such an opportunity to reignite the flames. The Hamas Islamists thus called for a new Intifada on Tuesday, using the pretext of the eve’s inauguration of a synagogue in the Jewish neighborhood of old town Jerusalem. The religious party knew much better than the secular Fatah how to mobilize thousands of protesters, frustrated by further Israeli colonization flooding the roads of East Jerusalem and Gaza.

As often occurs in similar cases, the rabble-rousers of both camps are allies in their goal. Here, that means sabotaging all peaceful two-state solutions. Hope sometimes arises from such crises, though. In this case, their goal could finally force the only possible arbiter of this conflict, Washington, to get involved and impose a peace whose contours are known.