You Will Anyway: Maybe an actual diplomat would have been a better choice

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Maybe an actual diplomat would have been a better choice

Jason Greenblatt, the Trump administration’s special envoy for Middle East peace, tasked with working on the “ultimate deal” for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is to leave the post, it has been announced.

[...]

Donald Trump tweeted that Greenblatt, one of his former lawyers, would be leaving “to pursue work in the private sector”.

“Jason has been a loyal and great friend and fantastic lawyer,” Trump said. “His dedication to Israel and to seeking peace between Israel and the Palestinians won’t be forgotten. He will be missed. Thank you Jason!”

The Guarian

So dedicated he quit.

Greenblatt, a real estate lawyer with no experience in diplomacy, began working on the would-be plan in 2017 with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in what the president has said would be the “ultimate deal”.

[...]

The only part of the Kushner-Greenblatt scheme that has been made public was an economic “workshop” in Bahrain, which was intended to drum up interest in investment in the future of the Palestinian territories. However, it was boycotted by most Palestinian businesses.

[...]

It was reported on Thursday that a 30 year-old Kushner aide, Avi Berkowitz – who graduated from law school in 2016 and has no Middle East experience, would take over some of Greenblatt’s role.

Great. Replace inexperience and incompetence with inexperience and incompetence.

During Greenblatt’s time in office, the US severed its diplomatic links with the Palestinians, closed down its consulate in Jerusalem, and ordered the Palestinian mission in Washington to shut down. Earlier this year, the US cut all aid to the Palestinian territories.

[...]

Kushner, Greenblatt and the current US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman have all been supportive of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and few expect the plan to put pressure on Israel to withdraw them.

“The plan is doomed. It is not going anywhere, but it will be a marker in the sand,” said Randa Slim, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington. “The two-state solution is doomed and this plan will seal its end. It will create a new normal in the conflict, for future US administrations.”

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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Life, as Explained in "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead"

GUILDENSTERN: What a fine persecution---to be kept intrigued without ever quite being enlightened.

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ROSENCRANTZ : The only thing that makes it bearable is the irrational belief that somebody interesting will come on in a minute.

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GUILDENSTERN: But for God's sake what are we supposed to do?!

PLAYER: Relax. Respond. That's what people do. You can't go through life questioning your situation at every turn.

GUILDENSTERN: But we don't know what's going on, or what to do with ourselves. We don't know how to act.

PLAYER: Act natural. You know why you're here at least.

GUILDENSTERN: We only know what we're told, and that's little enough. And for all we know it isn't even true.

PLAYER: For all anyone knows, nothing is. Everything has to be taken on trust; truth is only that which is taken to be true. It's the currency of living. There may be nothing behind it, but it doesn't make any difference so long as it is honoured. One acts on assumptions.

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GUILDENSTERN : We act on scraps of information... sifting half-remembered directions that we can hardly separate from instinct.

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PLAYER: Life is a gamble, at terrible odds-if it was a bet you wouldn't take it.