Vetoing Yourself

President Obama betrays his own policies while Israel further isolates itself, and Palestine thinks only short-term. All of this is disastrous for the Middle East.

The United States exercised its veto rights in the U.N. Security Council in order to block passage of a resolution condemning Israel’s continued settlement expansion in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. In so doing, the United States not only went against all the other Security Council members, it also contradicted its own policies. Since his inauguration two years ago, Obama had based his Middle East policy on the cessation of Israeli settlement expansion on the West Bank. On the previous Friday, Obama’s U.N. ambassador, Susan Rice, even condemned settlement expansion — although she then voted to allow Israel to continue on with it.

There’s no other explanation for this contradictory American position — described by Israel as “a great success” — except that it is driven by U.S. domestic politics. Obama has been under massive pressure since Democrats lost the November 2010 congressional elections. He comes off as weakened to the point of being unable to launch new international policy initiatives. If that proves to be the case, he probably won’t be able to accomplish anything of consequence on the economic front, either.

The Israeli government understands that its global image is not only behind on points, it’s already in rapid decline. It stands there like a rabbit hypnotized by a serpent. This Israeli government is incapable of accomplishing anything at all because it is concerned solely with the survival of the coalition, a coalition that can survive only in a paralyzed state. Fourteen U.N. Security Council members voted against Israel and the United States. If this resolution is brought before the General Assembly, as it very likely will be, the vote will be 190 in favor and two against. Israel hasn’t been this isolated since its founding in 1948.

In view of current Middle East developments, Israel is at a loss for what to do. To counter growing international isolation and take the steps necessary to meet the current Middle East unrest, Israel has to launch new peace initiatives with both the Palestinians and the Syrians. But domestic politics also has the upper hand here, even though they will be devastating to Israel’s overall interests.

President Obama tried his best to convince Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to refrain from presenting his draft resolution to the Security Council in hopes of getting America out of a jam. In return, Obama promised the Palestinians many political, military and economic advantages. Obama spoke with Abbas by telephone for 50 fruitless minutes, during which he tried to convince him that it was in Palestine’s best interests to meet Obama halfway and accept his offer. But Abbas declined the offer because of his own domestic political concerns.

This disastrous political navel-gazing shows that there are no real statesmen in any of the three nations; there are only run-of-the-mill politicians totally unsuited to handle crisis situations.