Conflicting Signals

Hillary is confusing her friends and allies with her recent shifting statements on the matter of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. See, for example ForeignPolicy.com:

Last week Clinton hailed Benjamin Netanyahu's "unprecedented" concessions on settlement construction, when it was fairly clear that Palestinians didn't see evidence of any concessions

See also Palestinian-American journalist Daoud Kuttab, normally a Hillary fan:

After all these conflicting signals, many Palestinians would like to know what the real position of the US secretary of state is.

Daoud is an exemplary moderate on the Palestinian side, and when he sounds exasperated, that should be taken as a warning sign.

USG Invites Two Palestinian Bloggers to Gaza Reconstruction Conference

This sounds like something new. The State Department invited two Palestinian journalists with popular blogs to attend the Gaza reconstruction conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, as the SecState's guests.

"We feel it's important to reach out and engage the new social media, and bloggers are a significant part of this new media," department spokesman Robert A. Wood said. "It's essential that the work of the State Department be disseminated as widely as possible, and they help get our message out."

One of the two, Fadi Abu Sada, was not allowed to enter Egypt. As a Palestinian under the age of 40, he needed an Egyptian visa, and had failed to get one. The other, Daoud Kuttab, was good to go since he's a Palestinian over the age of 40. And, although the above press report doesn't mention it, he's also a naturalized U.S. citizen, so I assume he could have entered Egypt on his good old U.S. passport.

Here's the report by the last Palestinian blogger left standing at the conference: My short meeting with Secretary Clinton.

Two New Governments, Same Old Peace Talks

Palestinian-American journalist Daoud Kuttab had a column a week ago (Palestinians Unsure Which Israeli Leader Will Keep Gaza and the West Bank United) that addressed the politics of the two-state solution in the context of new elections in both the U.S. and Israel.

He was pleased that the new U.S. administration is still talking up the two-state solution, i.e., Israel and a unified Palestinian state, and especially pleased that George Mitchell and not Dennis Ross is the new special envoy:

The appointment of the anti-settlements Senator George Mitchell and his decision to open an office in Jerusalem speaks volumes as to what the new Israeli government should expect from the Obama administration.

Now that the Israeli elections are over and a hardline government led by the Likud Party is in charge, I expect Daoud foresees a diplomatic clash between the U.S. and Israel in which he assumes the U.S. will naturally have the upper hand.

That would be wishful thinking on his part, I'm sure. George Mitchell, the ex-Senator from Maine who became a lobbyist for the tobacco industry, eyeball to eyeball with Bibi Netanyahu, the ex-Sayeret Matkal commando who went on to twice become Prime Minister? I don't see Mitchell winning that contest of wills.

Not to mention the Rahm Emanuel factor (see here and here), which shouldn't make the Palestinians happy. How likely is it the new administration will arm-twist the Israelis when Obama's Chief of Staff is the son of Israeli immigrants of a strongly Likudnik bent, and someone so emotionally tied to his parent's homeland that he served as a Volunteer for Israel during the 1991 Gulf War?

Maybe Obama Can Blame Dennis Ross on Hillary

If he can't, President-Elect Obama has just lost an overseas absentee voter. The news that Dennis Ross will be the Obama administration's special envoy to the Middle East has brought on a case of buyer's remorse with this Palestinian-American commentator.

The prospect of Ross continuing in his long-accustomed role as Ambassador-at-Large to the Middle East does not fill Daoud Kuttab with hope, to put it mildly, and Ross certainly does not offer change.