Bush retreats from Mideast peace efforts
1 hour, 44 minutes ago
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By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY
When Israel announced last week that it would permit construction of hundreds of Jewish apartments in the West Bank, the State Department acknowledged that the action directly violated commitments Israel made in June to quit building settlements in Palestinian territory, a crucial part of the U.S.-backed "road map" for peace.
But instead of a harsh rebuke, the State Department's reaction was low-key: "I can't really comment on it, other than to say we have made our policy clear, which is that, under the road map, Israel has made a commitment to stop settlement activity, and sticking to that commitment is important," deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said.
The mild response was characteristic of a Bush administration that seems to have given up trying to broker an Arab-Israeli peace in the face of repeated violations of the process by both sides. Just four months after President Bush (news - web sites) launched the road map at a peace summit in Jordan and pledged aggressive involvement, the White House has retreated. The turning point was the Sept. 6 resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who Americans and Israelis hoped could negotiate a peace deal where longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) had failed.
Speaking to reporters last week, Bush said, "When the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) comes up with a leader who is willing to genuinely fight and dismantle terrorist organizations, the process will pick up where it left off."
Since Abbas' resignation, U.S. actions and statements have suggested that the administration has judged the road map a failure. Instead, the administration appears to have moved back toward unabashed support of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s tough policies:
Elliott Abrams, the top Middle East official on the White House's National Security Council, told a group of Mideast experts last month that the administration never expected Israel to stop assassinations of Palestinian militants, even after Palestinian factions agreed to a cease-fire June 29. The administration view is that the cease-fire was negotiated among Palestinian factions and put no constraints on Israeli actions. The cease-fire collapsed Aug. 19 after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 23 people on a Jerusalem bus.
After Israel bombed an alleged Palestinian training camp deep in Syria on Oct. 5, the first such raid in 30 years, President Bush said Sharon "must not feel constrained" in defending his country.
Questioned on Oct. 14 about Israeli demolition of more than 200 homes in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "We understand Israel's need to defend itself. We've also said that Israel needs to consider the consequences of its actions." Israel said it was destroying tunnels used to smuggle weapons. But the road map calls on Israel to refrain from the "confiscation and/or demolition of Palestinian homes and property."
The next day, Palestinians detonated a bomb that killed three American security guards traveling in a U.S. convoy in Gaza. Samuel Lewis, U.S. ambassador to Israel from 1977 to 1985, said that the attack was an ominous sign Americans are now fair game and that it reflected Palestinian anger at "the whole pro-Israeli tenor of the (Bush) administration."
"The United States has always been identified in Arab eyes as being on the Israeli side," said Martin Indyk, U.S. ambassador to Israel in the Clinton administration. What has changed, Indyk said, is that Arabs no longer perceive the United States as being "committed to trying to find a solution" to the dispute.
Ahmed Ghneim, a member of a Palestinian delegation that visited Washington last week to urge the Bush administration to help broker a real cease-fire, told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy: "There is no signal that we have partners for this proposal ... not in the U.S. and not in Israel."
U.S. officials blame Palestinians for the impasse. But presidential politics may also be a factor. On the eve of an election year, Bush's staunch support of Sharon is a plus with key supporters.
"Pro-Israel Christians and Jews are much more comfortable with the administration's new emphasis," said Gary Bauer (news - web sites), a former Republican presidential candidate who heads American Values, a conservative group.
Supporters of the current U.S. policy say Bush believes it is the only way to force the Palestinians to come up with more effective leadership.
The view is that "we have to keep hands off to have the Palestinians take the responsibility" to crack down on terrorism, said Steve Rosen, director of foreign policy issues at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group.
The short-term impact of efforts to ostracize Arafat has been to bolster him. Last week, a Palestinian poll put Arafat's popularity at a five-year high of 52%.
Experts warn that the situation cannot be left to fester. "For the first time since I've been dealing with this problem, there are no rules governing behavior, no peace process and no external balancing force," said Aaron Miller, a former adviser to six secretaries of State. This "creates a vacuum in which the situation can deteriorate further." |
