Diplomacy

Israel was reluctantly forced to bitch-slap the US delegate to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, yesterday, forcing the US to withdraw a Security Counsel resolution endorsing the Annapolis meeting agreement between the Israeli and Palestinians.

The incident raised the hackles of some State Department officials, who said Khalilzad has a history of diplomatic freelancing and that he had stumbled into his current predicament by failing to adequately consult the Israelis or his boss, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Khalilzad flew to Washington, where he met with Rice.

"It doesn't look good. I agree with that," Khalilzad said in a telephone interview from Washington late Friday.

Khalilzad said he had consulted "very closely" with Rice before presenting the draft resolution and that his staff had kept the Israeli mission fully informed of U.S. plans. Khalilzad said that Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, became "very upset" when they saw a copy of the text Thursday night. He said they had no problem with the language of the resolution but that they expressed concern "that it would give the U.N. a role" in the peace talks.

I wonder whose hackles were raised at the State Department? Khalilzad says that he consulted with Rice, so it's big of him to suffer the reddened cheek that comes with a bitch slapping, leaving Condi in an unreddened state.

Oh, well, he'll get over it.