I think they are indeed puzzled, and distraught, but it doesn't bother me all that much, because it stems primarily from their lack of correct understanding of the situation on this end and that's not something we can do much about, IMHO. They thought U.S. policy toward Israel and the Palestinians would change because:
a) they believe that policy contributed to the anti-Americanism prevalent in the Muslim world and thus to the September 11 attacks, and so changing the policy would be a way to reduce that anti-Americanism along with the risk of future attacks;
b) they thought the Bush administration would try to buy their cooperation in the war on terrorism by adopting a much more pro-Palestinian line; and
c) they have little real understanding of why U.S. policy is what it is and how it is determined, and so think changing it is simply a matter of an all-powerful president's shunning the nefarious influence of the Jewish lobby.
In practice, the policy hasn't really changed much, both because the factors driving it are quite deep-rooted (intellectually, emotionally, politically, strategically) and because there's no even mildly attractive alternative out there at the moment (attractive to policymakers, that is, given all the pressures they are under).
Aside from occasional flurries of diplomatic activity and a good amount of well-intentioned rhetoric, the U.S. has remained largely on the sidlines of events for about a year now, and will probably continue to do so for a while longer. It's hard to say that policy has been a success, since the situation has kept spiralling downward. But it's also hard for me to criticize it harshly, because I don't have anything much better to offer.
tb@noexit.com |
