Why America's Undying Devotion to Israel Guarantees New Peace Talks Will Fail

Continued from previous page

AMY GOODMAN: Speaking to Israeli Army Radio last year, the new U.S. envoy, Martin Indyk, expressed doubts that Israel-Palestinian talks could yield a peace deal. In the clip, he refers to Mahmoud Abbas as Abu Mazen.

MARTIN INDYK: I’m not particularly optimistic, because I think that at the heart of the matter is that the maximum concessions that this government of Israel would be prepared to make fall far short of the minimum requirements that Abu Mazen will insist on. So it may be possible to keep the talks going, which is a good thing, but I find it very hard to believe that they will reach an agreement.

AMY GOODMAN: Yousef Munayyer, can you talk about who Martin Indyk is, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, leading these talks, and also to Norman Finkelstein talking about the depoliticization and despondency of the Palestinians?

YOUSEF MUNAYYER: Sure. And let me just say about that Martin Indyk quote, which I think is so interesting, if you mention it’s from last year, you know, he’s talking then about a right-wing Israeli government, which has since become even more right-wing and even more beholden to the interests of religious nationalist, settler parties that are now in the current Israeli government. So I think the Israeli government’s positions, the minimum that they’re willing to give—the maximum that they’re willing to give has shrunk even more under this current Israeli government.

You know, Martin Indyk, I think—I think the question about him, it’s not really about him as an individual, but really about what he represents when it comes to American mediation of these negotiations. Look, Martin Indyk is someone who very clearly has a pro-Israel background, pro-Israel advocacy and work on his résumé. It’s very clear what his positions have been in the past and who he’s associated himself with. But I think the interesting thing is, you could never imagine the United States appointing someone in that position as a special envoy to the negotiations who has the exact same résumé but from a Palestinian end. And I think that just speaks to the fact that the administration is still very conscious and prepared to defer to the concerns of pro-Israel interest groups in the United States when it comes to how it mediates the negotiations. And that, if anyone had any hope for a different U.S. position towards the negotiations this time around, suggests that that is simply not the case.

AMY GOODMAN: In January 2009, just as the three-week Israeli assault on Gaza was in full swing and President Obama was preparing to take office,  Martin Indyk came on Democracy Now! along with Norman Finkelstein. At the time, Indyk had come out with the book, Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East, based on his time as former U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Clinton administration. In the debate with Martin Indyk on the main obstacle to peace, Norman Finkelstein argued it was the U.S. and Israeli refusal to recognize basic Palestinian rights. When Norman Finkelstein said Palestinians had made all the major concessions on the key issues, Indyk refused to directly respond.

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: The important point is, on all those questions, the Palestinians were willing to make concessions. They were willing to allow Israel to keep 60 percent of the settlements, 80 percent of the settlers. They were willing to compromise on Jerusalem. They were willing to give up basically on the right of return. They made all the concessions. Israel didn’t make any concessions. How is this rendered in Martin Indyk’s book? It’s rendered as, quote, "Barak’s bold and courageous initiatives for peace" and "Arafat and the PLO rejecting the bold and courageous initiatives of Barak." Constantly, he turns reality on its head.