Abba Eban was a sophisticated, Oxbridge-educated man of great wit and charm, and unbeatable knowledge of Western diplomatic niceties. When he said "the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity", he knew he was speaking to similarly inclined Western ears, and they nodded appreciatively, understanding the nuance and subtlety of what he was saying.
Unfortunately, today his most famous witticism has been heard by non-Oxbridge, simple, non-English speaking Israeli politicians and military men, on whom subtlety and nuance are completely wasted. They have made a simple connection - Palestinians always miss opportunities, and Palestinians are vastly superior to Israelis when it comes to public relations and garnering support from foreign governments, media and NGOs. Therefore, for Israel to catch up, it's our duty to start missing opportunities.
A case in point - rarely if ever has Israel had such positive responses from the rest of the world than in the first few days of the current battle in Gaza and Lebanon. G8 leaders, western media, almost the whole world recognized that Hamas and Hezbolla had overstepped the mark by kidnapping and killing Israeli soldiers inside undisputed Israeli territory. While there were some mealy-mouthed words about "proportionate response" and "respecting civilian rights", the overwhelming feeling was that Israel has every right to go after the kidnappers and murderers. And as long as we spoke in public about "bringing our boys home", we had this support.
Compare that to now. The Israeli spokesmen are talking about "a few more weeks are needed to dismantle Hezbolla" and the hostages are hardly mentioned. Now the world is going back to the old pattern.
The New York Times today writes ... "The asymmetry in the reported death tolls is marked and growing: some 230 Lebanese dead, most of them civilians, to 25 Israeli dead, 13 of them civilians. In Gaza, one Israeli soldier has died from his own army’s fire, and 103 Palestinians have been killed, 70 percent of them militants. The cold figures, combined with Israeli air attacks on civilian infrastructure like power plants, electricity transformers, airports, bridges, highways and government buildings, have led to accusations by France and the European Union, echoed by some nongovernmental organizations, that Israel is guilty of 'disproportionate use of force' in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and of 'collective punishment' of the civilian populations."
Next, we'll see resolutions in the UN Security Council condemning Israel for its aggression against peace-loving Lebanon, which will only fail when (if?) the US vetoes it. And watching the White House briefing yesterday, it's obvious that the US government has run out of breathing space from the East Coast media, who are now asking their standard questions about US bias against the Arabs, about the influence of the "Jewish lobby" in steering foreign policy, and all the usual rhetoric that they trot out when dealing with Israel-US relations.
This is a plea to anyone to speaks in the name of Israel. Keep your foot out of your mouth. We are fighting in Lebanon for one thing - to bring our boys home safely. We are fighting in Gaza for one thing - to bring our boy home safely. No negotiations that do not start with that as unconditional prerequisites are tolerated, but no "secret agendas" -- PLEASE!.
