Not Time To Give Up On Mideast Negotiations

New York Times columnist Roger Cohen has now joined his colleague, Tom Friedman, in giving up on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Cohen does not go as far as Friedman, who essentially told Palestinians and Israelis to call the United States when they were ready to re-start negotiations but that we would abandon engagement until then. 

He simply asks President Obama to consider lowering his sights. "Obama, who has his Nobel already, should ratchet expectations downward. Stop talking about peace. Banish the word. Start talking about détente," he writes.

By détente, Cohen means a truce, which is essentially what exists now.  Since the Gaza war, violence has declined dramatically even as the continuing Israeli blockade of Gaza has increased human suffering and deprivation there.

In other words, détente or truce is what we have now.  They constitute the status quo.

Unfortunately, however, it is a very unsatisfactory status quo for Palestinians who continue to see their land gobbled up by settlers.  It is unsatisfactory for Israelis who fear the outbreak of a third intifada.  And it is unsatisfactory for the United States which sees its standing worldwide continue to decline as the administration seems as unwilling to play the "honest broker" role as its predecessor. 

President Obama needs to deliver on the promise he made in his historic Cairo speech earlier this year. He needs to push Israel to implement a settlement freeze, followed by a Palestinian return to negotiations.

The status quo needs to be upturned not preserved.