I don’t equivocate on who has more power here. The options for the Palestinians (especially if you look at the maps) for all their leadership problems, have narrowed to finally signing a complete surrender. The general consensus of the Palestinian activist community over the past ten years is more optimistic, but I tend to find agreement that it will get worse before it gets better, and I for one go deeper and darker on that, as I tend to do.
That said, I heard Ali Abunimah saying that American power in this context has always been overestimated, and I would tend to agree with that. I also think the American hegemonic and spiritual interest in Israel is waning. It’s getting harder to convince Americans that they have any real stake in Israel’s welfare. Meanwhile the Israelis have started fighting the wrong battles. I’ve noticed more and more strategic blunders, connected to their acute presbyopia about the fate of their own nation. I feel like that’s where the only breathing room Palestinians have is right now. But I tend to believe in the extreme length of the moral arc of the universe, not in its bend.
