Ariel Sharon's act of statesmanship gives President Bush an opportunity to advance the new road map for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Published May 30, 2003
Courageous decisions by Israeli and Palestinian leaders have given the new Middle East "road map" a reprieve from the early death the region's enemies of peace planned for it. But if the road map is to progress toward its ultimate goal, President Bush will have to display his own political courage and creativity in moving Israeli and Arab leaders toward further concessions that will be far more difficult for them to make.
The road map remains alive because Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took steps many had thought he would never make: He endorsed the road map and formally accepted an eventual Palestinian state - and then he persuaded a majority of his hard-line Cabinet to support his commitment. Sharon still has fundamental objections to elements of the plan, but he didn't allow those reservations to destroy the peace process.
Sharon's endorsement was more than a tactical move. In defending his decision, Sharon made a stunning acknowledgement: "You may not like the word," he told his hard-line critics, "but what's happening is occupation. Holding 3.5-million Palestinians is a bad thing for Israel, for the Palestinians and for the Israeli economy. We have to end this subject without risking our security."
Sharon's statesmanship marginalized the extremists who will never accept a negotiated peace with the Palestinians. In that respect, Sharon's actions mirrored those of his new Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas. By committing to political reform and straightforwardly denouncing terrorism, Abbas has moved the Palestinian leadership beyond the corrupt stalemate personified by Yasser Arafat. Abbas is still a long way from neutralizing or co-opting Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups, but the Israeli government's formal acceptance of the road map provides Abbas with crucial evidence that his approach can bring concrete results.
President Bush kept the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at arm's length for more than two years while the violence intensified and the political impasse deepened. Now that Abbas and Sharon have taken steps demanded by the White House as prerequisites for serious diplomacy, the president is seizing the moment. He has arranged a three-way summit with Sharon and Abbas next week in Jordan. He also plans direct meetings with the leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, whose continued support for the new peace plan is essential.
A genuine peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors would be its own reward. A succession of U.S. administrations has worked toward that goal in the name of justice and regional stability. However, the Bush administration also seems to have recognized that defusing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is vital to the success of the broader war against terrorism. Other Arab people and governments have seldom shown much genuine concern for the plight of the Palestinians, but the festering conflict has provided a convenient rallying cry for Islamic extremists. For that reason, a road map that leads to real autonomy for the Palestinians and real security for Israel would make the United States and the rest of the world more secure, too.
