Benjamin Netanyahu Had to Tell John Kerry "This is Not Vietnam"
The New Republic has a longish piece on how John Kerry got the latest iteration of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process restarted and how it fell apart around him. It involved a lot of talking and self-importance on all sides. The article includes a lot of reporting on the details of conversations between John Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and other Israeli and Palestinian officials. Among the reported conversations is this one that started about Palestinian incitement:
Kerry pressed on: "When I fought in Vietnam, I used to look at the faces of the local population and the looks they gave us. I'll never forget it. It gave me clarity that we saw the situation in completely different ways."
"This isn't Vietnam!" Netanyahu shouted. "No one understands Israel but Israel."
Kerry tried explaining himself again: "No one is saying it's Vietnam. But I've been coming here for thirty years, and I'm telling you, what's building up in the Palestinians has only gotten worse. I've seen it. It doesn't matter if it's right or wrong; it just is. It can't be solved if you can't see it how they see it."
Read the rest of the rather unsurprising way Kerry's peace process unfolded here.
