I do not want to wax too cynical, but the John Kerry show is totally unconvincing for anyone with a bit of knowledge and experience. We are supposed to believe that a most senior and prominent representative of the world's strongest power is running back and forth between J-m and Ramallah to get the sides to begin serious negotiations that have a real chance of success.
This "search" for the right formula for getting people to sit in the same room for a few hours only to disagree, after a reasonable interval, about the real goals of their meeting, is not what this is all about. John Kerry comes to the region in order to apply massive pressure on the "weakest link," i.e., Abbas's Palestinian Authority. If Kerry had in mind any idea of real progress for peace he would not agree to visit the sides as long as Israel conducts a full court press against every vestige of Palestinian rights in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, while settlers roam the hills threatening violence against Palestinian farmers. Meanwhile, believe it or not, a continuous frenzy of feverish chauvinism in the body politic has isolated Netanyahu to the point that he, having created an annexation hungry Golem, is no long master in his own movement and party. Many of his seemingly loyal supporters explain that they stay with him to prevent his capitulation to the left.
Kerry is trying to put on a show. The PA will eventually agree to a bundle of nice words, principles, formulas and gestures enabling Kerry to announce that both sides now agree to negotiations. Kerry will inform Abbas that Bibi has promised Obama to "go easy" on the settlements and that the US believes that the June 1967 borders are "relevant."
Israel will pay for an open-ended US hands off the occupation deal by releasing a few score Palestinian prisoners in installments. Kerry will declare a US victory for peace in Palestine while the partners for war against Iran try and work out a new schedule for aggression. Abbas will use the prisoner release as a smokescreen for participating in a new chapter of the sellout of Palestinian rights.
Honor and Glory to the People of Egypt
As I prepared to send out this analysis on the John Kerry show, events in Egypt command our urgent attention. In contradistinction to US theatrics, events in Egypt are the essence of historical reality. Even though it is still early in the development of the current Egyptian revolution to anticipate events from one day to the next, I feel the urge to repeat Marx's declaration on the Commune: Glory to the people of Egypt storming the gates of heaven.