Adelson and Ross: Yin Yang of US Politics

A few days before Dennis Ross was in print with his Post column,  Palestinian-Jordanian editor Rami Khouri summed up the veteran diplomat’s views in a column he published in the Jordan Times.

The good news about the Jordanian-hosted Palestinian-Israeli-Quartet meeting in Amman to explore possibilities for resuming Palestinian-Israeli direct negotiations is that former US Mideast specialist Dennis Ross is not there to guarantee failure with the pro-Israel tilt of the US delegation.

The bad news is that the meeting is likely to fail because the Ross approach to guaranteeing diplomatic failure with the pro-Israel tilt of the US delegation still prevails.

The Ross approach to Arab-Israeli diplomacy has essentially rested on the premise that everybody must make Israel comfortable and design negotiations on the basis of Israeli security concerns in order for any progress to be made. This is precisely why no measurable progress has ever been made when Ross spearheaded or influenced American diplomacy on this issue.

Rami Khouri, who also holds US citizenship, divides his time between Beruit, Amman and Nazereth. He remains a close observer of American politics. He is also a superb reporter and a precise and stylish writer.

Note his summary of why US presidential politics remain mired in absolute devotion to Zionism:

The noble mission of achieving justice and peace for Israelis and Palestinians, and other concerned Arabs, remains hostage to the American political imperative of pleasing Israel first. (A derivative of this is the Ross approach to diplomacy with Iran, which, equally Israeli-centric, has also been a consistent failure.)

Ross — now back at his former base at the pro-Israel group the Washington Institute for Near East Policy — was always an operational symptom and symbol of this reality, rather than its driving force.

The deep official American tilt in favor of Israel is profoundly structural and political, and not the work of a few individuals. It has been building up for half a century, and now relies primarily on near stranglehold control of American members of Congress by pro-Israeli fanatics.

The yin yang of Zionist American politics has led to such an all-encompassing interaction  ”within a greater whole, as part of a dynamic system”, that even much of the leadership of the American churches, presumably the guardians of the nation’s “moral imagination”, do not realize how totally they have been co-opted to promote Zionism rather than support social justice.

We will witness this soon when the United Methodist Church holds its international General Conference in Tampa, Florida, April 25-May 4. Close to 1000 delegates will gather in Tampa to set church policy, discuss budgets and consider resolutions on issues facing the denomination.

This denomination, whose founder, John Wesley, was outspoken against slavery in the 1700s, has a long tradition of supporting what we refer to today as social justice issues.  Wesley would have seen them as demands of the Gospel.

One resolution which will be brought to the Tampa General Conference will call for the delegates to pass a resolution that says, in part:

In light of our theological discernment of moral and biblical justice, the General Conference calls on The United Methodist Church to end its financial involvement in Israel’s occupation by divesting from companies that sustain the occupation.

On a matter that has been before previous General Conferences, the resolution adds specifics:

The General Conference instructs all United Methodist general boards and agencies to divest promptly from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett Packard until they end their involvement in the Israeli occupation. These companies have been engaged repeatedly by the United Methodist general agencies, boards and annual conferences on this issue.

Yin yang does not speak of a division between good and evil.  Rather it is a philosophy that presents yin yang not as “opposing forces (dualities), but complementary opposites that interact within a greater whole, as part of a dynamic system.”

The United Methodist General Conference that meets in Tampa, Florida, April 25-May 4 is both a political and a spiritual gathering.  It is the yin yang of a denomination at work.  Delegates will discuss and then vote on resolutions.

If delegates meditate on John Wesley’s journals and sermons, they should have no difficulty in making a decision to withdraw invested funds from companies that support Israel’s Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Finally, politics in the long running television program, West Wing, were, at times, complicated, sort of the way yin yang works out in  real life.  This clip is from Season 3, Episode 10.

For those not familiar with the program, US President Jed Bartlett is a (fictional) liberal Democrat.  His aide, Charlie Young, gives him a gift of a map of the Holy Land from 1709.  The President wants to frame the map and hang it outside his office.  He runs into opposition.

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