Yoel Marcus: Rice Bends Over Backwards For Abbas, No Consideration For Israel

2005-07-26

[IMRA: #1 retreat supporter Marcus details how the disengagement house of cards is collapsing before the retreat is even implemented.]

Leader Remodeling Inc.

Yoel Marcus

Haaretz

www.haaretz.com/hasen/ spages/604617.html

Condoleezza Rice's visit to Sycamore Ranch, with its sheep, cows and rolling green pastures, could have come straight out of a kitschy American sitcom set on a farm down South. The family sits around a dinner table piled high with wholesome food and showers one another with love. Only in this case, the honored guest ate little and talked a lot, and what she had to say was enough to put everyone off dessert, even though finishing with halvah has become a tradition.

In public, Condi was all smiles. But in private, she showed herself to be one tough cookie, full of demands on Israel. "She ticked us all off," said an insider. "The chutzpah of that woman. The way she totally ignored Sharon's critical problems at home. The way she twisted our arm and said we had to make all kinds of concessions and gestures to strengthen Abu Mazen."

This time, Rice's demands did not go through the Weissglas filtering system. There was no sugar to sweeten the pill or make it easier to swallow. There was no beating around the bush. Israel, she said, must supply the Palestinian Authority with weapons and ammunition. It must speed up the lines at checkpoints. It must be nice to Abu Mazen's buddies and allow them to operate. As if the missiles and the Qassam rockets fired at Israeli towns every day were our doing. As if the chairman of the PA deserves some kind of compensation.

One participant said Rice spoke like a teacher scolding her students. She demanded that Israel exercise restraint in responding to terror and let Abu Mazen fight Hamas, lest all of Gaza fall into its clutches. As if Israel were standing in his way. When she visited the Palestinians, she praised Abu Mazen's leadership abilities and his "war on terror." In Israel, she went on about how weak and frail he is, and urged us to strengthen him. As if Israel were Leader Remodeling Inc.

Once upon a time, if you recall, Abu Mazen was a prime minister. Arafat neutered him and forced him to quit. Now, Abu Mazen is the boss. His 100 days of grace were over long ago, and there's still no sign of him getting a handle on things.

Sometimes, it's true, there is strength in weakness. Once, Israel had a weak prime minister by the name of Levi Eshkol. He was so weak, he did the unbelievable: He kicked Ben-Gurion, the founder of the state, out of the party. He was so weak, he led the country into the Six-Day War, which ended in Israel's greatest victory ever.

The strength of a weak leader lies in the fact that those who want him where he is will find ways to shore him up. On the other hand, they forgive him when he doesn't meet expectations.

In Abu Mazen's case, the Bush administration wants to strengthen him because of his commitment to democratize the PA, whereas all we see is a man incapable of carrying out his most elementary obligation - cracking down and disarming the terrorist organizations. With Israel taking its first historic step to leave the territories, one might expect something different.

Some say that a man like Abu Mazen, who has been a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization for decades and is still one of its heads, couldn't be a weakling who needs crutches to get by. They are sure he can do more than he pretends he can. We've seen this type before.

Look at Ben-Gurion. He didn't need outside backing to sink the Altalena or disband the Palmach. Barak didn't need crutches to pull Israeli troops out of Lebanon overnight. Sharon didn't need outside help to decide on the evacuation of Gush Katif. These three leaders did what they did in the face of massive domestic opposition, bordering on civil war.

But since the U.S. administration is doing the asking, Israel must help Abu Mazen to help himself. If he needs a blood transfusion, we can donate some. After all, we do want a strong and credible partner. But we can't replace all his blood for him. If he is really so weak that he can't curb terror, can't discuss compromise and can't come up with any painful concessions on his side, then he is not a worthy partner.

Rice can rant and rave until the cows come home, but we have no factory for remodeling Palestinian leaders. We can barely manage with our own shoddy goods.

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis