President Bush's authoritative diplomacy has revived hope for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the hard work toward peace has barely begun.
Published June 6, 2003
This week's forceful intervention in Middle East diplomacy marked the most impressive episode so far in George W. Bush's presidency.
In traveling to the region to inject new life into the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the president was credible, purposeful and authoritative. The president and his team have barely begun the work that will be necessary to succeed where so many others have failed, but they deserve great credit for moving the two sides beyond a bloody stalemate that had stunted the region for more than two years.
This week's summit was possible only because the White House extracted concessions from all sides that had the effect of breaking the impasse. President Bush forced reform when he refused to enter serious negotiations until the Palestinians replaced Yasser Arafat, whose credibility is irredeemably lost. The president also won surprising concessions from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who accepted the outline of the new road map for ending the conflict and acknowledged for the first time that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank is untenable. And the White House won cooperation from several Arab governments whose support will be crucial to any final peace agreement.
Once President Bush was face-to-face with Sharon, new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and the leaders of five Arab governments, he used his personal charm and blunt talk as catalysts for further breakthroughs. Sharon promised to make significant military pullbacks, dismantle Israeli settlements established since late 2001 and ease day-to-day restrictions on law-abiding Palestinians. Abbas issued a more straightforward denunciation of terror than Arafat has ever managed to utter. Both leaders embraced the vision of neighboring Israeli and Palestinian states living in peace.
Even if Sharon and Abbas are entirely sincere, they still have to neutralize the nuttiest extremists on each side who are violently opposed to a negotiated peace. Abbas has been attempting to negotiate an agreement with the radical Palestinian group Hamas for a cessation of terrorist attacks against Israelis, but Hamas spokesmen rejected the Aqaba summit and vowed to continue the intifada. Arafat also is attempting to undercut Abbas. Extremist Jewish settlers have been even more vitriolic in denouncing Sharon, who until now had been viewed as a hard-line friend of the settlement movement.
A new outbreak of violence could derail the new peace plan at any time. But President Bush can improve its prospects by living up to his promise to expend the time and effort necessary to see the process through. He can continue to bolster Sharon and Abbas against the extremists by encouraging further confidence-building steps that give ordinary Israelis and Palestinians improved lives and renewed hopes. In the process, he can bolster his own standing as a world leader willing to use the authority of his office to pursue peace and justice in the face of great political risk.
