Row between Israel and the US is damaging American power, says Leslie Gelb, with consequences for its ability to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the conflict with Iran:
Make no mistake, the insult badly damaged America’s power in the eyes of Muslim leaders and others around the world. To be sure, almost all of these leaders have an exaggerated and unrealistic notion of America’s control over Israel. Washington has much influence there, but not control. In any event, the working supposition is that if any nation can bring about peace between Israel and the Palestinians, it is the United States because it alone has real influence over both parties. The Israeli slap in Biden’s face seriously undermined that perception of American influence, and thus America’s power. The disposition of Arab leaders and others to go along with American plans for future talks between Israelis and Palestinians will be seriously eroded. Others will be far less inclined to give Washington the benefit of the doubt. The result will be far more pressure by Muslim and European leaders for Washington to get tough and tougher with Israel. More toughness won’t work and will simply lead to more anger and frustration all around. (…)
Israelis who are rejoicing in their insult would do well to imagine Tehran’s reaction to their shenanigans. President Ahmadinejad and his cohorts must be thinking that if the Israelis can push Washington around, so can they. Who could be happier than the Revolutionary Guards to see America being treated as a limping power? And if Israeli leaders thought about what has just happened with any clarity, they would see that they have jeopardized America’s power in dealing with Iran’s evolving nuclear capability.
Catherine Ashton has continued her Middle East tour with stops in Syria and Lebanon, after having started in Egypt. For some press reports (until now there is very, very little coverage), go to Global Europe’s News&Views section (EU foreign policy). Her next stops are the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Israel and Jordan.
Don’t expect too much from Europe’s new diplomatic service, Ole Ryborg warns on his EU Observer blog:
With the present wrangling over the setting up of the EEAS, there is little hope that Europe by the end of the year will have a smooth and effective external action service up and running. Most probably, it will have a structure that will work in some places but not in others. That is the price that Europe pays for choosing to safeguard the internal harmony and then making a common foreign and security policy out of what is left.
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