A TOUGH ISRAELI VIEW - AT 11:56 P.M. ET:  I just returned from a briefing by Maj. Gen. (reserve) Giora Eiland, who was Israel's national security adviser under Ariel Sharon.  Now a civilian, Eiland said that he was free to speak openly and on the record.  And he did.  He gave a tough Israeli view of the Obama administration, one that came, so to speak, from the horse's mouth.  Eiland is obviously a partisan, but much of what he said made perfect sense. 

Here are the main points:

- He believes a deal may well be made with Iran, which would allow Iran to continue enriching uranium, but not up to weapons grade.  Eiland believes Obama would then announce a successful negotiation - someone present said he'd get the Nobel Peace Prize - and Iran would announce victory.  Iran would be right.  The key blunder was letting Iran enrich any uranium.  Getting to weapons grade, in secret, would be no great stretch.  We lose.

- Eiland said that American policy toward Iran is now actually softer than European policy.  This is startling, but appears to be true.  Thus is the collapse of American security policy.

- Talks about a "two-state" solution will ultimately fail because the Palestians don't want a state.  They want to be perpetual victims.  Israel isn't enthusiastic because the Palestinian state would be divided between a weak, corrupt Palestinian Authority, and a fanatical Hamas.

- No solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict is in sight because anything Israel can offer is less than what the Palestinians can accept.

- Eiland believes that, if subjected to a referendum, the Palestinians would choose the end of Israel rather than a state for themselves.

- More and more secular Palestinians want Jordanian control of their land, rather than a state, because they fear Hamas.  Jordan controlled the West Bank before the 1967 war, not the Palestinians, as many assume.

- The Obama administration forged ahead with the "two-state solution" strategy without ever reevaluating the nature of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.  Eiland clearly has a low opinion of Obama's diplomacy.

- For the first time in Eiland's memory, there is no real strategic dialogue between the United States and Israel.  This was Eiland's most telling point, and reveals an alarming change in the attitudes of the American administration. 

COMMENT:  Whether one agrees or disagrees with Eiland, he is a straight talker whose comments confirmed my own view of the amateurish, naive Obama policy in the Mideast, toward North Korea, and elsewhere.

June 4, 2009