Proximity Is Likely to Lead to Unilateralism

Proximity talks are the optimal format for advancing the political process for four major reasons: first, for the first time, there is accurate documentation of the parties’ interests and positions, which is essential for gradual progress toward a political settlement. One of the major failings of the 1999-01 Camp David Process, and of the July 2000 Camp David Summit is the lack of such record; Second, they allow for parallel bilateral Israel-US and PLO-US negotiations on the bilateral packages that are indispensible and integral to the process and to any future settlement; Third, these talks will serve to educate the American team on the nuanced substance of the process, which will prove to be critical in the final moments of the deal-making. Finally, the constitutional and political breakdown of the Palestinian polity increases the likelihood that the outcome of the political process will be bilateral understandings that will inform coordinated unilateral actions by Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. 

Many people, particularly, on the left, criticize the Netanyahu Government, as well as the Obama Administration, for a so-called setback relative to the direct negotiations that Israel and the Palestinians had in the 1990s. It is quite the contrary: in the present political climate this is the only format that can yield progress toward bilateral understandings and perhaps even an agreement.

Critics or Delegitimizers

Ben Cohen of the AJC wrote to me about the RI’s point in our recent report on Israel’s challenge of delegitimization about ”engaging the critics and isolating the delegitimizers.”

Ben gave an interesting example about a piece that he wrote for several blogs attacking a British Labour MP who wrote a disgracefully anti-Semitic article about Israel (http://www.hurryupharry.org/2010/03/09/lying-in-gaza/(

Andrew Sullivan – who has been locked in a bruising argument with Leon Wieseltier, after the latter accused him of anti-Semitism – approvingly linked Ben’s piece (see http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/03/lying-in-gaza.html), notwithstanding that Sullivan continues to be a strong challenger of Israel.

Sullivan is considered one of the top political bloggers in the world, and the piece Ben wrote moved him to state that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism often overlap.

So, as Ben says, our challenge is to explore how to get other prominent critics to follow his example, and thus set some parameters for reasonable, policy-driven, debate about Israel.

Spanish politician from left speaks truth on de-legit

My friend Michael Leffell from NYC pointed my attention to this blog, Portal of Ideas, and to this post on Pilar Rahola (click here), a left-wing Spanish politician that calls the spade of de-legitimacy a spade. It is unfortunately unusual, but nonetheless encouraging.

OECD to IL: Red light on Inclusiveness

OECD Secretary General visit here and new reports on Israel are great news for Israel (see OECD Review of Israel’s Labour Market and Social Policies and an OECD Economic Survey of Israel). Not because we will likely make it into the OECD by year end, but because we have received a brutally honest in-depth and comparative assessment of Israel’s social and economic performance.

The highlights are already well-known and expected: Israel’s main problem is inclusiveness. While Israel’s economy has shown resilience during the global recession due to sound macro-economic policies, our long-term prospects for socioeconomic growth are grim. We are OECD leaders in inequality (~20% poverty) due to quality of education system and low labor force participation (40% of working age people don’t work, compared to OECD avg. of 30%). The core of the challenge is among Haredim and Arabs. We knew it. Now others do too. 

The ISRAEL 15 Vision community should be happy. Our agenda has three pillars: rapid growth, inclusiveness and sustainability. We got OECD green light on the first, red light on the second and silence on the third (that deserves a separate post)

 For more information visit: Official visit of the Secretary-General to Israel; Israel country profile.

Reut’s work on IL’s de-legitimacy in the press

In 2006, we, at Reut, like many Israelis, were frustrated with the 2nd Lebanon War. The conclusion of our analysis at the time was that the war exposed a crisis in IL’s  national security strategy that had been incubating for a while before (check out our reports to Winograd).

Consequently, three years later, one of our teams, led by Eran Shayshon, is now dedicated to the challenge of Israel’s fundamental de-legitimacy. In the past few months they had two study-visits to London in order to understand the dynamics that led to a major setback to IL’s standing there.

The team has now concluded the analytical phase of its work and is beginning to write its report, which will serve as a platform for its 2010 work.

This week their thinking and work was shared in the London Jewish Chronicle (click here) and in Newsweek (click here).  

Link in a Chain – B Series

My name is Gidi Grinstein and A Link in A Chain is my blog. Those of you that would like to know more about me and the context of my work are invited to my personal webpage at www.gidigrinstein.com or to the first post of my original blog titled (how surprising) A Link in A Chain (click here). The only major change on the personal side is that we now have another girl, Yael, born November 2008.

My blog has two sites: here at wordpress and at the website of the Reut Institute, which I founded and head (www.reut-institute.org). Whereas here I will share my thoughts regarding on-going developments, the ‘bigger’ more thematic and conceptual posts will be posted at the Reut website.

My writing will focus on two main subjects. First, I believe that I have access to a unique perspective on the agenda of the State of Israel and the Jewish people through my work at Reut. A link in the chain will share with you some of these experiences and the insights that come with them. Second, we at Reut are accidental innovators since, as far as we know, Reut is a unique model due to its theory, methodologies, software tools and management. I will write about this as well.