Missed Opportunity for Peace

Bush has been determined to support Israel no matter what. Perhaps the best opportunity for peace has presented itself to the Israelis. A Sunni Arab coalition has decided the arising power of Iran needs to be faced head on. The Sunnis can't do that with a fire broiling in their backyard, one the Iranians have been successfully manipulating to their own ends by throwing oil money at Hamas and Hezbolah.
But because Bush won't pressure Israel, this opportunity will pass. The best opportunity to effectively counter Iran with a united front of it's neighbors has been thwarted. Obviously that is not in our interests.
Robert D. Novak - washingtonpost.com

An overriding melancholy here this Holy Week follows Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's mission to Jerusalem last week. To Arabs and Jews seeking meaningful peace negotiations, it confirmed that no progress toward a two-state solution is likely for the remainder of George W. Bush's presidency.


Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected Rice's offer to participate in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations for a permanent peace treaty. The word in the Olmert government is that the prime minister's reluctance even to begin talks at this time is fully shared by Bush. Rice is sincere in her desire for peace, but she can accomplish nothing important without the full support of her chief.


The aphorism (originated by Israeli statesman Abba Eban) that Arabs "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity" now can be applied to Israel. Last week's Riyadh declaration indicated the willingness of the Arab world to consider a peaceful solution. Now, belief here among peace-seekers is that nothing will happen until a new president enters the Oval Office in 2009.


That was the consensus Tuesday at a conference here on Middle East policy in which I took part. Deal W. Hudson, executive director of the Morley Institute in Washington, which held the conference, expressed hope that Bush might yet grasp the reins of peace. But a diverse assemblage of Palestinians (both Muslim and Christian), Israelis, Americans and other foreigners held little hope for a Bush initiative in the closing months of his administration.


The atmosphere has changed since I was here for Holy Week a year ago. Israeli self-confidence was at a peak then, with the newly installed Olmert openly avowing the unilateral solution to the Palestinian problem developed by his predecessor, Ariel Sharon. Behind that posture was confidence in military superiority. The unhappy results of the Lebanon incursion have modified Israeli expectations and caused a different tone.