Clinton: French Should Forget About Hosting Peace Confab

Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies agrees that this is a “sad” statement on the decline of U.S. influence in the region. He says, “We are arguing with the French over who presides over the death of the peace process.” He sees the French as the prime European movers behind the Palestinian attempt for a unilateral declaration of statehood. In proposing the meeting, he explains, “France either wants to claim victory after years of failure by the U.S. or alternatively claim, ‘We didn’t find a breakthrough which is why we support [a U.N. action].’ ”

As for the secretary of state’s reaction, the former negotiator observes, “Hillary is saying no partly out of pique (who are the damn French to take an initiative!) and partly because she rightly believes that a big conference will fail when the two parties cannot sit down at a table together.” That the French and Americans are arguing in public, Schanzer suggests, does not speak highly of the Obama team’s diplomatic skills. “If they are attempting to reclaim leadership, they are doing a poor job of it,” he says of Clinton’s “snarky” exchange.