(The Hill) Jonathan Greenberg - The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in desperate need of disruption. The Peace Process Cartel - that has spent the last quarter century being flamboyantly wrong about negotiated peace - believes that political disruption can work only one way: Israel makes tangible concessions such as giving up terrorist prisoners or land in exchange for intangible Palestinian promises and rescindable recognitions. The Trump administration has decided to try a different tactic: the U.S. will support our ally and sister democracy in the conflict and will pressure the terror organization that nominally governs the "West Bank" to implement changes whose necessity are in dispute by exactly no one. Instead of continuing to fork over millions of dollars in exchange for policy outcomes that everyone agrees fly in the face of our national interests, we'll put pressure on the side that deserves it. Will Palestinian civilians suffer because of these cuts? Regrettably, that's a real possibility. U.S. taxpayers should take note, though, that the donors appear more concerned about Palestinian suffering than do the recipients who are tasked with actually governing Palestinians. Change was needed and this change is a welcome one. The writer, a Reform rabbi, is senior vice president of the Haym Salomon Center.
2018-09-03 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive