The reason such an astonishing act of intellectual legerdemain is possible is that Annapolis is emphatically not about making peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Annapolis is about the image and the representation of the United States in a middle east that is ablaze, locked in a downward spiral of destruction of which Washington is a central agent.

Annapolis is about peddling the image of an American diplomacy committed to addressing the root cause of all the troubles in the middle east - the Palestinian issue - even as the US's political, military and economic efforts are focused on completely different issues (Iraq, Iran, oil, Sudan...). Annapolis convenes "negotiating" parties, Ehud...

The reason such an astonishing act of intellectual legerdemain is possible is that Annapolis is emphatically not about making peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Annapolis is about the image and the representation of the United States in a middle east that is ablaze, locked in a downward spiral of destruction of which Washington is a central agent.

Annapolis is about peddling the image of an American diplomacy committed to addressing the root cause of all the troubles in the middle east - the Palestinian issue - even as the US's political, military and economic efforts are focused on completely different issues (Iraq, Iran, oil, Sudan...). Annapolis convenes "negotiating" parties, Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas, who have nothing to negotiate about but who are capable of maintaining a smile and handshake for the cameras, and holding meetings to no ends and no results - which the media then reports as, in and by itself, a "creative effort".