"This is the first visit by an American representative since the new extreme-right government took over in Israel. There is no doubt that the initial statements by Israel, especially from the new Foreign Minister Avigdor Liebermann, have angered an Obama Administration pledged to further negotiations on the two-state solution. By rejecting the already dead Annapolis Process, Lieberman and Israel only appear to be changing track. Once they have created enough of a controversy, their acceptance of Annapolis will be repackaged as a grand concession on their part. We have seen this before. Israel builds straw men and then knocks them down in dramatic gestures so that others will think they have actually made a change."
"For example, Israel often builds confidence by releasing prisoners. The next day however, when the cameras are gone, they simply arrest the same number of prisoners, sometimes more, as in August and December of last year. Another example is laying down more checkpoints in the West Bank and then removing them in an elaborate manner. Sometimes they remove a dozen, then they put them back, usually more. Besides, there are over 700 obstacles to movement in the West Bank, what good is a dozen?"
"I fear that Israel will be using the same Straw Man tactics now with their discussions of Annapolis. They have created their own controversy, and will soon be set to ’reverse’ course under pressure from abroad. This is completely untrue, and a return to Annapolis in word alone will not change anything. The Israelis do not lose anything by joining in the process as it has been. The occupation will continue to intensify under the guise of ongoing negotiations in the same way it did previously. The Israeli Foreign Minister will still live in his illegal and expanding settlement in the West Bank, and Jerusalem and other final status issues will remain off of the table for fear of collapsing the ruling coalition – same as before."
"Once Netanyahu recommits to Annapolis, nothing will change in reality…except perhaps the perception of his government abroad. The US should know this, and refuse to be fooled by more straw men"
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