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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bilow who wrote (24926)	4/13/2002 11:17:08 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I voted for Bush too but I wish he would do more to bring peace to The Middle East... If I were in Bush's position just over a week ago and I realized that my Administration had waited too long to become fully engaged in helping to end The Arab-Israeli conflict, I would have made a historic move and gone well beyond the excellent speech made on April 4th. I would have made very specific demands for Israel to withdraw their troops AND for Arafat to condemn suicide bombings. Yet, I would have immediately announced a trip to The Middle East with Colin Powell...I would want to look BOTH leaders in the eye and demand specific actions....Beyond that I would say that once Sharon starts a comprehensive removal of IDF forces from the occupied territoris and Arafat speaks out on suicide terrorism on TV, THEN we would move into some high level accelerated diplomatic talks aimed at building a platform for real and lasting peace in the region...I would want Colin Powell and my team to recruit all the appropriate decision makers from the Arafat camp and from The Sharon government...[Sharon may not want to meet with Arafat but if he wanted continued U.S. aid and support I would ask him to give Arafat one final chance AND assure him that this time the U.S. would remain engaged and use many techniques to hold Arafat accountable...Sharon would also be commanded to allow independent observers and aid workers to go into the occupied territories during the full-scale withdrawal.] Arafat and Sharon would be invited to meet for some round the clock discussions at a secure international hotel --> The goal would be to NOT LEAVE until we had arrived at some mutual understandings...sometimes we would have to agree to disagree...Yet, I would use the tremendous U.S. leverage to get both Arafat and Sharon to agree that there is NO military or violent solution to the problem...We may also invite key Arab leaders to join in the intense discussions...We would talk about going beyond a cease-fire and productively moving towards the establishment of a independant Palestinian State that would live alongside Israel [the goal would be to offer the Palestinian people some real hope for the future and offer the Israelis a chance to move towards more security and peaceful relations with all neighbors]...we would develop a an agreed-upon method to help insure security along the borders...its also possible that an international peace-keeping force may be required in an interim period. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians would have specific rights and responsibilities...This intense marathon set of discussions may take several days (or longer) BUT the alternative would be spiraling violence and very damaging instability for The Middle East and U.S. interests -- sort of like what we've seen in the last week. I honestly feel that Bush and Powell would have a chance to get Arafat and Sharon to come to some historic agreement. Yet, it would be difficult and some new thinking and creative negotiating techniques may have to be considered. The U.S. would also have to be willing to use the carrot and the stick....if necessary we might threaten to cut off aid and support but also be willing to reward positive actions with new levels of commitment. The goal would be to sign a cease-fire AND a preliminary agreement that maps out some steps to provide real and lasting peace for Israel and The Palestinians. Anyway, I know what I have just typed (on 4 hours of sleep) sounds like a dream but I honestly think it might have shocked all parties into action. JMHO. ______________________ btw, I honestly hope Powell will be much more successful than many think he'll be...the stakes are very high.