With the Destination in Sight, A Road Map is Consulted

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With the Destination in Sight, A Road Map is Consulted
by James Hall, Senior Associate Editor

March 20, 2003

"Leaning Left"

James Hall The British and Spanish told the Bush administration that their impending attack on Iraq and occupation of that oil-rich country was going to be difficult if they didn't show a little evenhandedness and offer a bandage for that festering sore of the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So the administration has dusted off its road map for peace proposal and sent it forth once again.

The road map is an early administration proposal that offered a series of parallel steps for Israel and the Palestinian Authority to take. These steps would be supported internationally by the US, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations and ultimately lead to a peace treaty and a Palestinian state by 2005. But the road map has been off the table for months now, even though there's a willingness by many of the sponsoring nations to move forward with it.

Granted, the timing wasn't quite right for a major peace initiative before the recent Israeli elections and formation of the new government, and before the Palestinian Authority selected its Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, and gave him the power to negotiate in good faith with Ariel Sharon. But the administration's sudden decision to pull out the road map has that air of rush, of last-minute change of plans that augurs ill for its future success.

Creating a road map for peace in the Middle East should have been the first thing the Bush administration did after September 11, and not the final step before its war with Iraq. There's little doubt that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is playing a huge role in the growth of terrorism and dissatisfaction in the Islamic world. It's a daily recruitment poster for angry young men and women who want to punish the West for supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the disenfranchisement of the Palestinian people.

If the Bush administration had really wanted to "drain the swamp"---i.e., change the conditions that lead to terrorism---it should have made peace between Israelis and Palestinians its priority, a priority every bit as great as finding and eliminating Al Qaeda. It should have had a permanent envoy in the region marshaling support for peace in a region that has grown to accept an-eye-for-an-eye as a negotiating strategy.

President Bush made one concerted attempt at evenhandedness last year, all but ordering Ariel Sharon to withdraw his tanks from a West Bank occupation after a terror attack. But when faced by an uproar from his solidly pro-Israel conservative religious base, Bush backed down, and has been backing away from this issue ever since.

True leadership would have made the case that a peace between Israel and a newly established Palestinian state is required if America wants to stop being a target for terror attacks. But there's a real question whether President Bush will dare to cross Ariel Sharon and his huge conservative Christian support base back in the U. S. And the imminent war with Iraq will greatly complicate matters, especially if Saddam Hussein strikes at Israel and the Israelis respond by joining in the occupation of Iraq.

As punishment for the Bush administration's tardiness, the road map will be seen for what it is, a last-ditch attempt to gather some good will on the Arab street and to provide cover for European and Arab governments supporting the US. It won't be seen for what it ought to have been--the first priority to restore peace and stability in the Middle East. ***

James Hall
Orlando, FL USA

Photo of the author courtesy of staff files