Into the fire

Newly appointed Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia is walking into a bleak picture. His advantage, however, is that he comes to the job under no illusions.

Ahmed Qureia originally said he wouldn't be willing to serve as the Palestinians' new prime minister unless he received specific assurances from all of the major players in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He demanded that Israel, the United States and the international community renew their commitment to the concessions required under the road map to peace. And though Qureia was less explicit in his demands of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, he insisted on greater control than his predecessor, Mahmoud Abbas, had been given over Palestinian security forces and other sources of Arafat's longstanding power.

In the end, Qureia took the job despite receiving no concrete concessions from his adversaries or his ostensible friends. Given Abbas' fate under similar circumstances, Qureia may quickly regret his decision.

At least Qureia, unlike Abbas, comes to the job under no illusions. Barely four months ago, Abbas took the prime minister's post at a time of rare optimism in the Middle East. The Bush administration appeared to have succeeded in pushing Arafat to the sidelines and drawing Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon into a genuine commitment to the road map.

Since then, of course, the moment of optimism, like so many before it, has died in another spasm of violence. Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups broke their pledge to refrain from attacks against Israel. Abbas, undercut by Arafat, was powerless to crack down on the Palestinian enemies of peace. Sharon, outraged by increasingly vicious attacks against civilians within Israel, ordered a new campaign to kill Hamas leaders. But those attacks have killed and wounded more women and children than terrorists. And so the cycle of killing and revenge has spun out of control again.

During the brief window of optimism, progress in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict appeared to be a tangible benefit of the war in Iraq. When the early stages of the war were going well, the Bush administration was emboldened to pressure both sides into new concessions. But the war began to go badly, the White House's attention shifted and neither Abbas nor Sharon demonstrated the courage to make the decisive steps needed to break the impasse. Abbas utterly failed to neutralize Hamas. Sharon made only marginal efforts to reduce Israeli settlements in the West Bank and to ease the checkpoints and other barriers that disrupt Palestinians' daily lives.

Abbas recognized his impotence and quit. In that environment, he probably feels fortunate to have been able to walk away instead of being carried in a box. Qureia, who served as speaker of the Palestinian parliament and has won respect among diplomats on all sides, has some political advantages over Abbas. But the big picture that greets him is just as bleak as the one Abbas left behind. Qureia didn't get the guarantees he originally demanded. Without them, he is at the mercy of Arafat, Sharon and the extremists on both sides who continue to rationalize the suffering of innocents.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright