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Last update - 10:12 07/04/2008
The time has come for Bush to intervene
By Akiva Eldar
Tags: Nixon

In a meeting in Brussels last month with female leaders, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reported that talks between Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the head of the Palestinian negotiating team, Ahmed Qureia, seem to be going much better than how they are portrayed in the media. She said chances were not bad that the two sides would implement the Annapolis dream of reaching an agreement by the end of 2008.

Last week, Rice came to the region to make sure that when her president returns to Jerusalem next week, he will not go home empty-handed. As always, the senior American stateswoman did not enter the negotiating room; she received a report from both sides about the talks on borders, refugees and Jerusalem. Oh, excuse me - according to the agreement with Shas, Jerusalem is outside the bounds of negotiations.

But the representative of the world's strongest power did not make do with updates; Rice rapped on Defense Minister Ehud Barak's desk and demanded that he immediately order a series of steps to make daily life easier in the West Bank.
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She managed to extricate a promise from the defense minister of a country whose population is around 2 percent of that of the United States to dismantle 50 roadblocks in the West Bank. Fifty out of more than 500 roadblocks, dirt heaps and cement blocks. Less than a dozen of them were meant to keep terrorists out of Israel. All the rest serve the settlements established in contravention of the official position of every American administration and the outposts established in breach of the law that Israel itself imposed on the territories.

In an instructive article published by the U.S./Middle East Project, Frederic Hof - who used to head the Mitchell Committee staff - writes that in April 2001, a few weeks after he submitted the Mitchell Report to the State Department, Sen. George Mitchell spoke on the phone with the new secretary of state at the time, Colin Powell.

Mitchell said the report's recommendations on the cessation of violence and confidence building between the two sides, including freezing construction in the settlements and renewing political negotiations, would not be implemented on their own. Mitchell noted that in light of the mutual lack of confidence between Israel and the Palestinians, nothing would happen unless the United States firmly led the process.

Hof believes that an American effort to help implement the report could have stopped the deteriorating situation in the territories and brought both sides back to the negotiating table.

Unfortunately, he writes, "I came quickly to the unhappy conclusion relatively soon after the report's release that there had never been any intention on the part of the Bush administration to do any heavy lifting to help the parties implement the report's recommendations." The Quartet also made do with submitting the road map to the two sides, and ordered them to cope on their own with the heavy challenge of setting a timetable and monitoring the fulfillment of their commitments.

Former U.S. president Richard Nixon wrote in his memoirs that the key to resolving the Israeli-Arab conflict is a forced settlement that is not referred to as such. Former president Bill Clinton convened Israelis and Palestinians at Camp David and proposed a detailed draft, without coercing: If they want, they'll take it and if not, they won't. U.S. President George W. Bush specialized in ceremonies and speeches. Hof writes that the impact of the road map is reminiscent of Winston Churchill's description of Benito Mussolini: "Big appetite, bad teeth."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have repeatedly said they are committed to the two-state solution. Both of them agree, more or less, on the principles of an agreement. Both of them are maneuvering between the fear of being toppled by the camp that opposes the political process and the risk that the neighboring government will be toppled by opponents of compromise.

It would be far easier for both of them to win domestic support for a peace agreement that the United States played an active role in preparing. When Bush wants to influence reality, as in the case of Iraq, he does not hide behind the dubious excuse that the United States cannot interfere in another country's internal matters.

The United States does not need to send its boys to risk their lives in the Nablus market or the outposts of the Hebron Hills. But the U.S. has not fulfilled its obligation simply by removing a few roadblocks from the West Bank. The least required of the American president who forced the elections that brought Hamas to power is to translate his "vision" into a peace treaty.
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  1.   eldar in la la land of haaretz fantasises 10:20  |  v hardman 07/04/08
  2.   It is the dream of every American politician... 10:22  |  Natallie Durson 07/04/08
  3.   No engaged "honest broker" = No win against Islamic terrorism 10:44  |  Swiss (Dino) 07/04/08
  4.   USA is a slave of a monster master 10:46  |  mahmood 07/04/08
  5.   CALLING FOR FOREIGN INTERVENTION ON BEHALF OF ENEMY IS TREASON 10:53  |  G.Marcus 07/04/08
  6.   Time for me to retire 10:54  |  Natallie Durson 07/04/08
  7.   Arabs have not accepted Israel as Jewish-majority state 10:56  |  Sam 07/04/08
  8.   ONLY SOLUTION: GAZA UNDER EGYPT; PARTS OF W.BANK LINKED TO JORDAN 10:58  |  G.Marcus 07/04/08
  9.   akiva eldar; you have nailed it right to the wall! 10:59  |  eric 07/04/08
  10.   ONLY SOLUTION: GAZA UNDER EGYPT; PARTS OF W.BANK LINKED TO JORDAN 10:59  |  G.Marcus 07/04/08
  11.   CALLING FOR FOREIGN INTERVENTION ON BEHALF OF ENEMY IS TREASON 11:10  |  G.Marcus 07/04/08
  12.   Hardman - How? 11:26  |  Mark of Lewiston 07/04/08
  13.   New elections required 11:47  |  Joseph 07/04/08
  14.   HE WAS AN EXTREMIST PRO-ISRAEL 11:50  |  indrajaya 07/04/08
  15.   #12 wher there is a political will there is a way 11:51  |  v hardman 07/04/08
  16.   mark of lewiston .. there is a way 11:53  |  v hardman 07/04/08
  17.   YEAH RIGHT... BUSH IS BUSY PLANNING HIS NEXT WAR 11:55  |  TripleJump 07/04/08
  18.   # 15 is a fake, but not too bad 12:04  |  v hardman 07/04/08
  19.   #9 eric is incapable of absorbing legalities 12:08  |  v hardman 07/04/08
  20.   #16 v hardman, Yes, you can........ 12:19  |  Hamdan in Ramallah 07/04/08
  21.   No engaged "honest broker" = No win against Islamic terrorism 12:43  |  Shlomo 07/04/08
  22.   # 4 mahmood....the US didn`t hesitate 13:41  |  Lynn 07/04/08
  23.   # 2 Durson...."really hot war" 13:47  |  Lynn 07/04/08
  24.   Its the Lobby that decides, not Bush 14:03  |  Chanalau, Tova 07/04/08
  25.   Lynn. #22 bullshit detector goes off the chart! 14:07  |  Roo 07/04/08
  26.   # 23 Lynn 14:19  |  Natallie Durson 07/04/08
  27.   #20 fake message and hamdan belong together !! 14:22  |  v hardman 07/04/08
  28.   Eldar`s Unattainable Goal 14:27  |  Yaakov Sullivan 07/04/08
  29.   # 21 Shlomo 14:44  |  Swiss (Dino) 07/04/08
  30.   Security, Redemption and Fundmentalism 14:45  |  Yaakov Sullivan 07/04/08
  31.   Has anyone advocated pressure on the Arabs to accept Israel? 15:02  |  Sam 07/04/08
  32.   #22 Lynn: we´re just puppets in a string 15:12  |  AliciaYasmeen 07/04/08
  33.   The sarcasm of Akiva Eldar 15:32  |  Mordechai BenTzur 07/04/08
  34.   WE have to wait two years more! 15:57  |  Sharif Hafez 07/04/08
  35.   Muslims want control 16:06  |  American Christian 07/04/08
  36.   I hope we both live to see who packs his bags, Hamdan in Ramallah 16:21  |  Freethinker 07/04/08
  37.   Bush is a waste of space, lacks a brain 16:27  |  Nurit 07/04/08
  38.   To Jewish Lobby paranoiacs Indra, Tova, Yaakov at al 16:28  |  Freethinker 07/04/08
  39.   Why wait 2 years Sharif? Let`s make peace today! 16:37  |  Sam 07/04/08
  40.   #31 No, Sam, because "the Arabs" have tabled the offer 17:06  |  Johnboy 07/04/08
  41.   Re Swiss #3 17:09  |  Esther 07/04/08
  42.   Eldar - An Amazing Ability to Lie With Ease 17:14  |  Tod Zuckerman 07/04/08
  43.   Intervention is pointless where only one party can be pressured. 17:29  |  David Turner 07/04/08
  44.   Johnboy,Arab Initiative calls for flow of refugees into Israel 17:33  |  Sam 07/04/08
  45.   #44 No, Sam it does not. 18:02  |  Johnboy 07/04/08
  46.   Bush& the Crime Syndicate are plotting&planning how to attack 18:04  |  lakshmi 07/04/08
  47.   Sam and the Same Old Crap 18:08  |  Yaakov Sullivan 07/04/08
  48.   Johnboy-Let Canada do its job of finding solutions for refugees 18:18  |  Sam 07/04/08
  49.   # 41 Esther 18:24  |  Swiss (Dino) 07/04/08
  50.   Well dont expect Bush to do miracle, he removed 10 dirt barricade 19:12  |  El-Birawi 07/04/08
  51.   Swiss (Dino) President Clinten was an honest broker 19:15  |  David Israel 07/04/08
  52.   "Condi rapped her knuckles on Barak·s desk or. 19:37  |  Stephen. 07/04/08
  53.   TIme for Eldar to retire 19:46  |  Dror 07/04/08
  54.   Re Mordechai #33 19:55  |  Esther 07/04/08
  55.   General Durson always dreaming of that really "hot war." 19:57  |  Jeff Ward 07/04/08
  56.   #49 Swiss (Dino) you are correct about U.S. intervention 20:05  |  Smadar 07/04/08
  57.   US MURDERED 140,000 IN HIROSHIMA/NAGAZAKI AND 1 MILLION IN IRAQ 20:20  |  TripleJump 07/04/08
  58.   Akiva Eldar`s dreams 20:27  |  Frank 07/04/08
  59.   # 51 David Israel 20:50  |  Swiss (Dino) 07/04/08
  60.   47 Yaakov Sullivan,good reply to Sam! israel claims real estate 20:53  |  lakshmi 07/04/08
  61.   Bushs "vision" 21:13  |  tadchase 07/04/08
  62.   56 Smadar,no ifs & buts,israel has to do a number of things if it 21:15  |  lakshmi 07/04/08
  63.   Swiss - facts and perceptions 21:16  |  David Israel 07/04/08
  64.   # 56 Smadar 21:22  |  Swiss (Dino) 07/04/08
  65.   On chaos, a time bomb and a disaster. 23:29  |  zeev 07/04/08
  66.   to Smadar #56 00:02  |  zeev 08/04/08
  67.   #57 triple jump only violent nations can acheive peace ! 00:10  |  v hardman 08/04/08
  68.   Swiss/Israel - facts vs perspective 00:18  |  tadchase 08/04/08
  69.   Right on Akiva! A helping hand from Bush is needed. 00:45  |  Dutch 08/04/08
  70.   #48 Sam is hopelessly niave 00:59  |  Johnboy 08/04/08
  71.&nbs