When the Tough Decide to Become Diplomatic
Why did Israel shift from a tough line to diplomacy? There were no doubt many electoral considerations internal to Israel. But the real reason is that the Israelis found that they were unable militarily to bring Palestinian shelling of Israeli towns to an end. And everyone was drawing conclusions from this. Abbas reopened negotiations with Hamas. The Egyptians were pressing the Israelis and the Americans to negotiate with Hamas. And, of course, the Israelis are in a weaker diplomatic position than they would have been two years ago, not to speak of in the days of Arafat. Meanwhile, the French drew the conclusion that it was now safe to be urging serious concessions by Israel. Will American politicians, inside and outside of government, be as bold? As for Hizbullah, the Israelis tried to destroy them militarily and failed completely. It was an embarrassing show of the limits of Israeli military power.
by Immanuel Wallerstein - 07/01/08 - more at Agence Global
