"B.E., Before Egypt. A.E., After Egypt.": Tom Friedman Takes a Vacation from Middle East Reality

Writing from Ramallah, Thomas Friedman majestically declares in a New York Times op-ed entitled "B.E., Before Egypt. A.E., After Egypt." (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/opinion/02friedman.html):

"Today, I believe President Obama should put his own peace plan on the table, bridging the Israeli and Palestinian positions, and demand that the two sides negotiate on it without any preconditions."

Sadly, timing is everything in the Middle East, and Friedman's proposition ignores facts on the ground.

If we are talking about a peace between the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank and Israel, Friedman fails to acknowledge that President Abbas was elected to serve until January 2009, but unilaterally extended his term for another year and continues in office without an election. Abbas is carefully scrutinizing events in Egypt and Jordan, and nervously watching for signs of unrest in Ramallah, Jenin, Hebron and Nablus. Embarrassed by the publication by Al Jezeera of Palestinian Authority concessions, Abbas is currently in no position to negotiate with Israel, notwithstanding economic growth and stability in the West Bank.

If we are talking about a peace between Hamas in Gaza and Israel, Hamas's charter continues to call for the murder of all Jews (not just Israelis) and rejects any negotiated solution with Israel. On Monday night, aware that the world has suddenly recognized that Israel is not the source of instability in Egypt, Hamas sought to create "linkage" by firing Grad missiles and mortar shells at Israeli civilian targets and hoping for a reprisal. Israel, however, was not sucked into this attempt to escalate tensions.

In short, this is a very stylish piece of writing from Mr. Friedman, but it fails to entertain realities. Peace between Israel and the Palestinians will come, but everything has its time.

[This from the Jerusalem Post: "MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) criticized the US on Wednesday, saying 'the Americans brought disaster to the Middle East by calling for [Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak to leave his country.' Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio that 'We must reach an agreement with the Palestinians quickly, before the masters from Washington force a solution on us [in the issue].'" (http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=206329)]