One Way To Do It

Up on the main site, Marko Hoare argues for a tough-love approach to solving the the Israeli-Arab conflict:

A possible model for the imposition of a fair compromise on Israel and the Palestinians might be the 1999 Rambouillet negotiations to resolve the Kosovo dispute. Less important than the actual compromise offered was the method of compulsion, involving a threat against both sides. As Tim Judah recounts: ‘While the Serbs were being told that if they failed to sign up to the draft proposals they would be bombed, the Albanians were, in effect, being told that if failure was their fault, they would be left to the tender mercies of the Serbian security forces and paramilitaries.’ This follows the dictum of Conor Cruise O’Brien, that ‘Conflicts don’t have solutions. They have outcomes.’ In the case of Israel and the Palestinians, the international community should impose a just settlement by threatening to come down like a ton of bricks on whichever side rejects the settlement.

This specifies a framework through which to think about the “we need to save Israel from itself” line of argument. I’m just left wondering whether this kind of political will exists in the United States. I suppose we’ll find out soon enough whether the Obama administration is willing to wade into this minefield.