President Obama Way Behind at the U.N.

President Obama’s approach to foreign policy is often described as “leading from behind.” This style of leadership is unsatisfactory for some who see it as suspiciously like doing very little, but I have generally cut the president some slack when critics express frustration with his reluctance for bold action. This week at the U.N., however, saw him trying to lead from so far behind that he was just plain behind.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s call for U.N. recognition of Palestine is commendable as a bold and peaceful effort toward concrete progress in a old conflict. Israel occupied Palestine in the Six Day War of 1967 (which wasn’t a war with Palestine) and then stayed. To this day, Israel has continued to establish new settlements in Palestinian lands and since 2007 has maintained a blockade of Gaza that has caused widespread poverty, joblessness and hunger. Palestine should have full state status, and apparently most of the world is willing to grant it now—everyone but Israel and the U.S.

When President Obama addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, he used his usual conciliatory rhetoric, accompanied by his this-is-common-sense-folks tone of voice, to reaffirm his support for eventual full statehood for Palestine, while also urging Palestine to delay its call for full membership:

“I am convinced that there is no short-cut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades. Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the U.N.—if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians who must live side by side.” 

His words must have sounded hollow to everyone in that hall. Abbas is offering him a chance to make real progress—but by no means a final step—toward peace in the Middle East, real progress his previous efforts have failed to produce, and he’s passing it up.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile, has shown admirable leadership. In expectation of this conflict, he opened the General Assembly with an actual constructive suggestion. His comments, while they came before President Obama’s, seem designed as a response to them: 

“True, this peace will be built by the Israelis and the Palestinians. No one else can do it. And no one can claim to impose it on them. But we must help them.” 

Sarkozy proposes upgrading Palestine’s status from observer entity to observer state, with a one-year deadline for Israel and Palestine to reach an agreement. He probably wants to avoid escalating violence and instability in the region that might be instigated by a U.S. veto of Palestinian statehood in the Security Council, but I suspect he also views Obama as a friend, an embarrassing one who is behaving poorly and requires a little help not looking any more foolish than he already does.

Peace in the Middle East will come when the U.S. decides to stop sponsoring Israel’s occupation of Palestine and sends a clear signal that it will brook no more nonsense on this issue. The Obama administration should seize upon the opportunity presented by Abbas’s proposal to stop lagging behind and get caught up with the rest of the world.