April 1, 2010- Weak Sanctions on Iran are Worse the None

Today, directed leaks from the White House indicated the Obama Administration, or it seems more directly, President Obama is planning to present his own peace plan he hopes to impose on Israel and the Palestinians. It started this morning with a story from David Ignatius Obama Weighs New Peace Plan for the Middle East and spread to other media outlets over the course the of the day. To make matters worse, the administration is making this settlement as part of direct linkage with the Iranian problem. There are two possibilities: either the President is using this as a threat on the Israeli government to be more flexible, or the administration will try to impose its own settlement. The more frightening possibility is that Obama actually believes he can succeed in imposing a settlement. Leaving aside the problems on the Israeli side, does Obama really think he can overcome Hamas’s opposition to any peace agreement-and linkage with Iran? What does this really mean? Will he set another meaningless deadline? Is he going to guarantee the US will attack Iran if Israel agrees to the American terms, but the Irananians and their puppets do not agree to the terms?

President Obama is said to have received advice from, among others, Brent Scrowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski (two of Israel’s better “friends” in Washington). My fear is that this area, is like some other areas where the President seems to think he can accomplish much more then anyone even he is capable of achieving. It is unclear just how far the psychological gulf between Israel and the Palestinians was widened when it was discovered the new offices of the Palestinian President were being built on a streeet recently renamed for Yechail Eyash, otherwise known as "The Engineer". He was the mastermind behind the bombs that killed dozens of Israelis, and more than any other Palestinian, may have been responsible for helping derail the Oslo Accords.

Charlie Rose had on his show Mathes Dophner, the Chairman and CED of Alex Springer Publishing, one of the largest publishers in Germany, and someone who is clearly a friend of Israel. His message was that it is madness to think Ahmedinejad will not do what he threatens to do. He also said that its impossible to think Israel, with its remaining population of survivors and its historic memories is going to sit around and do nothing when a new dictator threatens to destroy the world's largest Jewish community. Dophner said the world better be ready for the unexpected. The implication is that he expects Israel to strike.

Those who are familiar with Jerusalem, and have driven to the Malcha mall in the last few years have no doubt asked themselves who could possibly have approved the huge and ugly buildings on the hill that once was the Holyland Hotel. The answer became clear today in Israel, when one of the largest corruption scandals in Israel’s history began to break. Six people, including the former chief engineer of Jerusalem under former Mayor Olmert, were arrested for receiving millions in bribes to approve the project. The name of a well known political figure who is said to be part of the case has not yet been disclosed, but when the name does become public, it is expected to rock the Israeli political scene.