Unlike the Israelis(and Jewish-American Israel-Firsters), whose stance is consistently rejectionist, the Saudis have presented a positive paradigm for peace. The Saudi plan calls for Arab recognition of Israel in return for withdrawal from the occupied territories and the creation of a viable Palestinian state with a shared capital in Jerusalem. Sharon – and Benjamin Netanyahu, his even more intransigent right-wing rival, waiting in the wings – can only say "No!"
news.bbc.co.uk
Aside from grating on the nerves of the Bush administration, this negativism is not going to go over big with the American public. Israel has accumulated quite a lot of moral and political capital over the years, but its present rulers – and their apologists in this country – are spending it fast. George W. Bush has been very patient with Sharon, and has done everything humanly possible to accommodate the American Likudniks in his own party. But events have pushed the President to choose between the interests of his own country, and those of a favored ally. So far, at least, George W. Bush seems to be making all the correct choices: he is stumbling, uncertainly and tentatively, onto the right path.
Oh, and one more thing: If I were the Jewish-Zionist War Party, I wouldn't be so smugly complacent about the certainty of war with Iraq by next year: if Sharon gives Bush much more trouble than he already has, it may be time to shelve the war plans indefinitely. |
