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Bill Safire is chagrined that Jewish and Arab Americans are united in voting overwhelmingly against Bush and believing Kerry will better represent their interests. Maybe Safire should learn a little something from the citizenry and what they think their true interests are, and why Bush has betrayed them. Bush's mindless support of Sharon at every point is not good policy and not the sign of a true ally. And support for Sharon's unilateral Gaza withdrawal is hardly enough -- even if Sharon is right to withdraw from Gaza and even if some far right Israeli settler fanatics are threatening Sharon with violence, even assassination over it. What's needed is structured US support and pressure and incentives for achieving a two state solution. Not the Bush 'whatever Sharon wants' disengagement plan. Safire is calling on American Jews to support something they know is parochial, unstable and short term as opposed to a real, sustainable peace plan. Mr. Safire, your readers know better than you what is in the US's and Israel's long term national security interests -- a sustainable peace.
Update: The American Prospect's Sarah Wildman notes a very interesting editorial from Ha'aretz today:
The opposition that Sharon's proposal has stirred up is threatening Israel with a civil war. This too is just a prelude to the inevitable: In the Middle East, both among the Israelis and among the Palestinians, anyone who wants peace must prepare for a civil war. This, as Sharon said in a different context, will be the most justified of all Israel's wars. It is not a Charles de Gaulle for whom Israel is waiting, but rather for an Abraham Lincoln, a leader who will know how to make it clear that the subject of the controversy is not some strip of land or other, but rather the authority to decide.
Go read the whole Ha'aretz piece.