[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: The Middle East Awaits

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The Middle East Awaits

October 18, 2004
 


 

The increasingly bloody stalemate between Israelis and
Palestinians is certain to force itself onto the agenda of
the next American president. That should be evident from
the growing toll of innocent lives on both sides and the
anger and despair spreading across an already inflamed
region. Yet with barely two weeks left in the campaign,
President Bush and Senator John Kerry have all but ignored
this important issue, with neither offering any serious
proposals to break the deadlock. 

Instead, they have joined in offering Israel's prime
minister, Ariel Sharon, virtually uncritical support for
whatever military operations or settlement expansions he
chooses to undertake. After pronouncing anathemas on the
discredited Yasir Arafat, they have stood by waiting for a
new, less compromised Palestinian leadership to somehow
emerge miraculously to replace him. This is not a policy.
It is an abdication of leadership that costs Israeli and
Palestinian lives, deepens mistrust and makes an eventual
peace that much harder to achieve. Washington cannot afford
to remain on such a destructive course. It must work to
rebuild its influence as a force for Middle East peace. 

Although the United States has long been a close ally of
Israel and firmly committed to its security, Washington had
also managed, prior to the Bush administration, to convince
the Palestinians of its good faith as a peace broker. Over
the past three and a half years, that trust has been
needlessly and recklessly forfeited. This administration
has allowed itself to become the pawn of Mr. Sharon's
machinations. How far this has now gone is clear from a
recent Israeli newspaper interview in which the prime
minister's chief of staff bragged that Mr. Sharon had
secured American endorsement for positions designed to
postpone serious discussion of Palestinian statehood until
the far distant future. 

To re-establish America's credibility as a peace broker,
the next president must show that the United States remains
committed to the fair and viable two-state solution that
Mr. Bush endorsed two years ago and will vigorously oppose
all actions by either side that undermine it. It is vitally
important for Washington to condemn any official
Palestinian connivance in terrorism. But it must once again
learn to raise its voice against Israeli settlement
expansions and provocative military operations. 

Israel's paramount need is security for its citizens as
they go about their daily lives and in this it deserves
America's complete support. The barrier fence the Sharon
government is building can be a positive factor in stopping
the infiltration of suicide bombers and other terrorists
from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, but only if it
hews closely to Israel's pre-1967 borders. The fence alone
is not a complete answer. It must be complemented by an
effective Palestinian crackdown against terrorist cells.
That will require rebuilding some of the Palestinian
political and police institutions that Israel has been
systematically weakening. 

Washington should actively encourage such rebuilding by
pressing for new democratic elections at all levels of
Palestinian society, from village mayors and councils to
the top national leadership. Promoting democracy in the
Arab and Islamic world is now official American policy, and
the principle behind it is as valid for Palestinians as it
is for Iraqis and Afghans. Since Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry
both assert that Mr. Arafat has permanently discredited
himself as a negotiating partner, they should be eager to
encourage the emergence of a new generation of Palestinian
leadership through democratic elections. Another way
Washington can help reverse the current Palestinian drift
toward lawlessness, terror and despair is by returning to
the traditional American position of demanding a complete
freeze on Israeli settlement activity. That would affirm
American evenhandedness, revive flagging Palestinian hopes
for a viable future state and reinforce the Palestinian
moderates. 

Peace between Israel and the Palestinians cannot be imposed
by Washington; it must be home-grown. But that does not
relieve the American president of responsibility for doing
all in his power to encourage both sides to abandon their
present destructive policies and recommit themselves to
work toward an eventual negotiated peace. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/18/opinion/18mon1.html?ex=1099113780&ei=1&en=533645081ea92d26


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