The weeks are passing and the Bush administration is approaching the end of the road. The seven months until the presidential and Congressional elections are spurring the president and his staff to focus on improving their balance sheet before the next administration takes over. It is in this context that we should observe the visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Although its importance is limited and the expectations are low, it reflects American recognition of the need to invest in promoting an Israeli-Palestinian agreement, even when the chances of a high and immediate yield are small.
In a conversation with journalists in Washington before leaving for Israel, on her way to joining President George W. Bush at the NATO summit in Bucharest and from there to a meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin, Rice placed the efforts for the conflict's solution in a respectable place on the administration's list of goals. But not at the top of the list. Russia, the NATO alliance, the nuclear disarmament of North Korea and an improvement in the tendencies in the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan - Ramallah and Gaza only come afterward. Bush and Rice are sincerely interested in solving the problem that also influences other troubles, but in case they fail, they want to repel in advance those who accuse them, as if to say "Don't say we didn't try."
Neglect of the conflict characterized the Bush administration in its early years, with the exception of flashes that quickly died down - the two-state speech in June 2002 and the road map that followed it, as well as support for the unilateral evacuation of Gaza in exchange for consideration of the settlement blocs in the West Bank. Neglect of the conflict was replaced at the end of last year by feverish activity, entitled "the Annapolis process," whose success is not yet clear.
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Rice's present journey is designed, like its predecessors, to spur Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not only to build a bridge between themselves, but also to climb on it finally and move toward a meeting that will produce an agreement. For that purpose the secretary of state is both visiting Israel frequently and increasing her criticism of Israeli policy, particularly on the issue of construction beyond the Green Line. Her criticism includes construction in East Jerusalem and the interruption of the Palestinians' fabric of life in the West Bank.
Abbas' weakness in the Palestinian community in general and in light of the Hamas military takeover of Gaza in particular has caused Rice to address most of her demands to Israel. Responding to these demands will improve the atmosphere, even if it does not affect the core issues, does not necessarily increase the strength of the moderates vis-a-vis the extremists in Palestinian society and does not lead to unity in the divided Arab world, as reflected by the summit in Damascus.
The four months of the Annapolis process do not herald any favorable developments, but the process is expected to continue, in an identical or similar format, in the next administration, whether Democratic or Republican, with or without survivors from the present administration. (Rice is a possible candidate for vice president to Republican frontrunner John McCain.) The visits to Israel and the criticism will not fade away. Israel has a genuine interest, not a tactical one, in working harder for the success of Bush and Rice's belated, final effort.
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