The Mid-East Peace Summit

02/19/2007

Paul Munnis


The recent summit between Palestine and Israel was a rare event since Bush took office. One hasn’t been held since Colin Powell was Secretary of State. On the surface nothing came of it as Abbas is still trying to get the Palestinian Government organized and on the same page while Israel is still having its problems getting support for Olmert to negotiate a Palestinian peace treaty. Emotions are still high on both sides.

The U.S. used the occasion to drive a wedge into the possibility of Israel and Palestine from fixing their differences. They did this by demanding that Palestine renounce all violence and agree to live in peace with Israel. That was the diplomatic equivalent of waving a red cape at an angry bull. It is stupid foreign policy for the US and we should be committing ourselves to be as honest brokers for peace between these two neighbors.

Of course just a few seconds contemplating the prospects of peace breaking out between Palestine and Israel is enough to make one realize that it would be harmful for a continued US presence in the mid-east.

I guess the good news was that we can still convene and attend a summit on peace in the mid-east. The bad news is who is representing the U.S. This is not a team with peace as its theme.

We have come a long way afar from the intense diplomacy conducted by Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright in their attempts to negotiate peace in the mid-east. The Bush team has been clumsy and reticent at best - uninterested and uncommitted at worst.

We look for no progress in the mid-east until Bush is either replaced or the diplomatic initiative is shifted elsewhere.

In the meantime we must hope that Israel and Palestine can make progress on their own since they have no friends to help them.