As an American, watching the violence explode between Israel and Palestinians over the past two weeks has felt like awakening from a heavy narcotic sleep.
The drug, in this instance, has been the willful and persistent denial embraced by American politicians and media alike about the grave crisis that, though less visible recently, has been ticking like a time bomb in this part of the Middle East for years.
As the situation between Israel and Palestinians has grown steadily more dangerous, the doses of denial needed to ignore it, too, have like a narcotic become constantly bigger. It is easy to scorn the diplomacy of the Trump administration, because the delusion on which it was based was not only greatest, but was also most openly, even proudly, on exhibit. But the constant, persistent drip of American diplomacy’s narcotic approach toward this crisis dates back decades—and betrays no particular partisan flavor.