Indeed, it\u2019s time for us to dust off James Baker\u2019s line: \u201cWhen you\u2019re serious, give us a call: 202-456-1414. Ask for Barack. Otherwise, stay out of our lives. We have our own country to fix.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The fact is, the only time America has been able to advance peace \u201d\u201d post-Yom Kippur War, Camp David, post-Lebanon war, Madrid and Oslo \u201d\u201d has been when the parties felt enough pain for different reasons that they invited our diplomacy, and we had statesmen \u201d\u201d Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, George Shultz, James Baker and Bill Clinton \u201d\u201d savvy enough to seize those moments.<\/p>\n
Today, the Arabs, Israel and the Palestinians are clearly not feeling enough pain to do anything hard for peace with each other \u201d\u201d a mood best summed up by a phrase making the rounds at the State Department: The Palestinian leadership \u201cwants a deal with Israel without any negotiations\u201d\u009d and Israel\u2019s leadership \u201cwants negotiations with the Palestinians without any deal.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
It is obvious that this Israeli government believes it can have peace with the Palestinians and keep the West Bank, this Palestinian Authority still can\u2019t decide whether to reconcile with the Jewish state or criminalize it and this Hamas leadership would rather let Palestinians live forever in the hellish squalor that is Gaza than give up its crazy fantasy of an Islamic Republic in Palestine.<\/p>\n