Thread by @ShMMor

The lack of self-awareness from an expert peace processor here is stunning. It is precisely the withholding of funds tied to pay-for-slay & the shifting regional diplomatic architecture that have yielded the concessions he notes here. More ironic is the transparent projection:
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https://twitter.com/aarondmiller2/status/1329597006818521091

The expert processors swooped in in 2009 demanding purifying "daylight," some public pressure on Israel which would supposedly earn the US credit with the Arab world, yield Israeli concessions, and unlock the peace process.

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They engineered fake crises and exploited stupid provocations from right-wing Israeli politicians for loud showy spats, and quietly informed the Israelis right at the outset that they no longer saw the previous...

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... administration’s commitments (as outlined in the 2004 Bush-Sharon letter) as binding, almost ensuring that no Israeli would ever again consider a territorial withdrawal of any kind for anything less than a full peace treaty including an explicit termination of claims.

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And what did they have to show for all this? The Obama administration was possibly the most successful presidency of the past half century, but ironically, the only administration since the Yom Kippur War to have exactly zero accomplishments on Arab-Israeli peace.

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Ford: Disengagement of Forces agreements
Carter: Camp David, Egypt Peace
Reagan: Lebanon withdrawal, Taba arbitration
Bush: Madrid conference, first direct talks in Washington
Clinton: Oslo, Jordan peace
Bush: Roadmap, Gaza withdrawal
Trump: normalization agreements

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What is so frustrating to processors like this is knowing that they are so much smarter than the other guys, so much better, so much purer, so much more world-wise — and yet they are consistently wrong about everything.

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They were convinced Palestinian autonomy in the 90's would lead to a reduction in terrorism; the opposite happened. Convinced that demands for "right of return" were just bluster; they weren't.

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Convinced that an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan to the Kinneret shoreline would stabilize the region (memory holed since 2011). Convinced that Erdogan represented a moderate for of democratic Islamism that the rest of the region could learn from.

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Convinced that a US recognition of Jerusalem would “explode” the region. Convinced that normalization couldn’t happen in the Gulf.

And the “daylight” cultists will be angling for positions in the incoming Biden administration.

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For these experts, the earnest desire for “daylight” often has less to do with a comprehensive view of the Middle East or America’s interests and a great deal to do with the pursuit of a symbolic and cleansing fight with Israel.

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