Double down or fold on Israel-Palestine?

My good friend Joel Rubin argues that the US must put forward its own plan to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at Democracy Arsenal.

Our country’s relationship with the Arab world needs to turn a new page, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict stands out as unfinished business that must be resolved…It is time for the American plan.

Is there a precedent for this?  My reading of the situation is that the Israelis and the Palestinians aren’t serious about solving the problem at this point.  Can we force them to solve the problem if they do want to solve it themselves?  Tom Friedman gives an emphatic no.  Tom’s argument is somewhat more persuasive to me than Joel’s, but I worry about the unintended consequences of abandoning the effort.  Certainly a plan will have to have big sticks for non-compliance if the other side agrees.  I admit that I do not have a better idea than either Joel or Tom.

Tom Friedman gets it right on Israel/Palestine

Shorter Tom Friedman: until they get serious, there is little the US can do so it might as well do nothing.

Making votes count

My good friend Joel Rubin has just returned from a security conference in Israel and senses despair among large parts of the population:

My Tel Aviv cousins…pay more than half their income to national taxes, with a significant portion dedicated to supporting these settlers. They are infuriated by the reality that they are subsidizing the lifestyle of a group of people that has no interest in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a two-state solution, relegating Israelis to unending conflict.

Worse, while the people of Tel Aviv know that the settlers are holding the country’s politics hostage, they have no idea how to change this.

Joel ought to read a great book by Gary Cox, Making Votes Count. Why? Because the majority of Israeli Jews support a two-state solution. As in the US, the reason the right in Israel, especially the settlers on the West Bank, are able to dominate Israeli politics is because, unlike the left, they are vocal and organized. Joel’s cousins in Tel Aviv will never be able to get the policies they want until they organize for them. The take away point from making votes count is that organization is often more important for winning elections than public support. This may be self-evident, but moaning about politics to friends and family doesn’t change a thing.