U.S. Influence Is Sinking

The U.S. asserts that if the U.N. Security Council asked Israel to stop the building of settlements in the West Bank, it would be counterproductive to the peace process. Can you believe this? For there is no peace process, and as a result, the chance that Israel will stop construction without a [U.N.] resolution has always been zero.

While the 14 other Security Council members supported the resolution, the U.S. blocked it with their one veto, which is a tragedy. Now, Washington breaks away from every connection in the Middle East, from all those who patiently played along with the peace process for years — also to their own advantage. Naturally, they’re paid by the U.S. and could make their home however they wanted, without much criticism. Mubarak is history; another, Abdullah from Jordan, is weakened; and Abdullah from Saudi Arabia will not forgive Washington for the “betrayal” of Mubarak.

This “betrayal” brought the U.S., for a moment, closer to the people in the Middle East. With the U.S. veto, this moment is over, and Barack Obama’s call in support of the resolution — during his 2009 speech in Cairo — is finally dead. U.S. influence in the region is sinking, to the detriment of Israel. Only when Israel does, without a resolution, what would have been demanded of it with passage of the resolution, can the decline of U.S. influence in the region be halted.