Over the past four years, the US embarked an a completely new and novel strategy for peace in the Middle East, one that has had infinitely more success than any administration since the 1970s.
But that strategy has been hated by people who claim to want peace above all.
This is because the new policies contradicted the orthodoxy of the old model, which had become nothing less than a religion. Most politicians, pundits and professional "peacemakers" were emotionally invested in the fantasy that if only Israel gave Palestinians more land, they would be satisfied, terror and incitement would cease and only after that would other Arab nations join in.
This religion was created during the 1990s and, like all religions, the facts of what has happened since then cannot shake the true believers. A deadly intifada followed a decade later with a smaller terror spree, multiple Palestinian rejections of peace offers and frameworks, thousands of rockets from Gaza, an enduring political split between rival Palestinian groups, increased disenchantment with Palestinian actions in other Arab countries, the rise of Iran as a nuclear threat - none of these could disturb the absolute Truth that the Oslo process was the only one that could bring peace.
These true believers hate for anything that Donald Trump did buttressed their convictions that they were right. Israel's accords with four Arab countries were dismissed as some sort of anomaly.
And now that Trump is going away, they are anxious to return the US to the failed models of Trump's predecessors.
Haaretz reports that J-Street is salivating to reverse practically everything Trump and Kushner did: It wants to drop the "Peace to Prosperity" plan that is far more realistic than anything ever proposed beforehand, it wants to criminalize any Jews living in Judea and Samaria and even prohibit US funding of scientific research that is done by Jews across the Green Line, it wants to reward Palestinian intransigence by re-opening its diplomatic mission in Washington, it wants the US to open a separate consulate in Jerusalem just for Palestinians, it wants Biden to declare ahead of any negotiations that the US will recognize east Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, it wants to end the US position that Palestinians shouldn't join international organizations (which has only served the purpose of using those platforms to attack Israel,) it wants the US to consider boycotting Israel as legitimate, it wants to have the US abandon the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and it wants to bring in the international community which is historically antipathetic towards Israel in to help create a peace plan that would force Israel to return to having only nine miles from its eastern border to the Mediterranean.
Yes, J-Street still claims it is "pro-Israel."
The problem is that Biden has supported J-Street. He seems to believe that the failed policies of every previous administration just needs to be tweaked a little while the massive successes of the Trump administration are anomalies or terrible mistakes.
Trump understood that appeasement doesn't work for Palestinians. They didn't only reject Israeli peace offers but also a framework from Obama and Kerry that went beyond Israel's flexible positions. he gave them a chance to restart talks with Israel, and when they said no, he didn't beg them as Obama/Kerry did - he said, fine, we will go on without you. This is the only way to act in the Middle East.
Speaking of faith, it isn't only J-Street that is anxious to party like it's 1999. This op-ed in Religion News Service by Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon (Churches for Middle East Peace) shows how widespread this way of thinking is:
Last year, Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and its blockade of Gaza brought increased misery and property violations to the Palestinians: home demolitions, expansion of settlements, detention of Palestinian children, continued restrictions on movement and access and (particularly in Gaza) fears of annexation.The recent agreements between Israel and Arab states benefit these countries’ respective economies, but little or no consultation took place with the Palestinians, and the agreements did little to help end the conflict.A new year, a new Congress and a new administration, however, offer an opportunity for the U.S. to play a constructive role to reach a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Mae Elise Cannon, had actually written an article opposing the accords between Israel and the UAE. Both the CMEP and the ELCA support the antisemitic and virulently anti-Israel Kairos Palestine document, which shows that their interest in "peace" is nil - they want a single Arab state and no Jewish state.
But they, like J-Street, hide their hatred of Israel behind the pretense of wanting "peace." And too many Westerners are blinded by the wonderful use of the word "peace" that they cannot see that the results of previous peace initiatives have resulted in anything but.
There is a real way to peace. The past four years proved that. The Trump peace plan is the most realistic way forward, providing Israel with the security it cannot compromise on while giving the Palestinians a path not only to a state but also to economic prosperity.
The only people who cannot see that are the ones blinded by their faith in a 27 year old process that has been rejected by Palestinians time and time again.