What Do They Say at Summit Meetings?

What Do They Say at Summit Meetings?

Michael Walzer: What Do They Say at Summit Meetings?

I can imagine what the catcher says to the pitcher at a conference on the mound. I can imagine what the union leader says to the CEO at a bargaining session. I can imagine what a presidential candidate says to a potential donor when they are out of sight and alone. But I can?t imagine what presidents and prime ministers say to one another when they meet at the summit. Do they talk small or big? Are they abstract or concrete? Do they ask each other hard questions? Do they give honest answers?

I have no idea what they actually say. But I have come increasingly to suspect that they mostly talk small, abstractly, about easy questions, never honestly. Consider the recent meetings of President Obama with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and with President Abbas of the Palestine Authority. Judging from their public statements after the meetings, they exchanged pleasantries and not much more. They reached agreement by not talking about anything that might lead them to disagree. But that can?t be right, given how difficult the issues are and how high the stakes. They must have addressed the hard questions and then decided not to make their agreements or disagreements public. But is that what happened? Maybe it didn?t happen.

Did Obama say to Netanyahu: Are you really ready to withdraw from (let?s say) 95 percent of the West Bank? And are you able to do that?against the opposition of the settlers and the political Right? Is there sufficient support in your coalition? And if not, are you prepared to reshape the coalition? If Netanyahu?s answers weren?t yes, and yes, and no, and yes, there would be no point in pushing him into further negotiations with the Palestinians, since these will be sure to fail. But I suspect that he wasn?t asked.

Did Obama say to Abbas: Are you ready to give up the right of return to Israel and say publicly that the only return of refugees will be to the Palestinian state? You were against doing that at Camp David and at Taba. Will you do it now? If Abbas didn?t give a strong affirmative answer to that question, then there is no point in pushing him into further negotiations, which will, again, be sure to fail. But I suspect that he wasn?t asked.

Obama may think that Netanyahu and Abbas can?t answer questions like that, giving away bargaining points before the real bargaining begins, and so it is better not to ask them. But unless the president knows that there is a bargain waiting to be made, pushing for negotiations is a very risky business. Failure might well be worse than no negotiations?as the aftermath of Camp David suggests. And isn?t it the purpose of summit conferences to reach private agreements that make public progress possible?

Maybe not. Maybe the summiteers are just doing what the catcher does when he walks to the mound?buying time.