I have nothing original or particularly interesting to say about the photo-op Obama had yesterday with Abbas and Netanyahu. The Obama team seems slowly to be understanding (or not) that there's a reason the Arab-Israeli conflict is so long-running and intractable, and it's not that the players can't see what's so glaringly obvious from afar. On the contrary: us locals, we've long since covered all the options that seem so obvious to the novices, and we understand fully why they're not real. It's our lives, and we're not novices.
The clischee about how we've forgotten more about the matter than the newcomers may ever know is reality, not platitude.
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I immediately was reminded of the hand shake between Rabin and Arafat in 1993.
Having still in mind the "success" of that meeting I actually do not expect too much.
http://history.state.gov/milestones/1990-2000/Oslo
The tenor of the following article of the U.S. Department Of State, which set as link, is also a bit too benevolent in my opinion.
Perhaps one has to keep in mind that, at that time, it probably seemed a great deal of success.
But still - Arafat told his people, in a previously recorded speech, something completely different in Jordan TV at the same time he shook hands with Rabin.
And nobody recognized it at that time?
Strange similarities...
Regards
Carl
did Obama try to replicate thesuccess in garnering media attention Bill Clinton had with his photo with Kim Jong Il?
- he sure looks like he did - is there a chance he or his staff had a say in which photo to choose or did he keep that stern disappointed father look all the time on his face while the other two manage credible smiles as their eye wrinkles tell?
rgds,
Silke
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