Tuesday’s Annapolis Summit
Posted on November 24, 2007 - Filed Under American Politics, International Politics |
The Economist leads this weeks with an article written more in hope than expectation about the forthcoming peace summit in Annapolis, Maryland between Ehud Olmert of Israel, Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinians, and a host of other regional leaders. Looking to any US president to forge a silent consensus on the delicate and complex Israeli-Palestinian issue would be asking much of them, but looking to Mr Bush to do so, as The Economist is (despite its numerous caveats), is borderline off the reservation. Does The Economist seriously expect that Mr Bush, seven years into one of the most disastrous presidencies in decades, is going to suddenly reveal himself to be a farsighted and courageous leader, capable of standing up to the worst impulses of both sides as well as considerably ingrained pro-Israeli sentiment among members of his administration like Dick Cheney?
It is true that Bush has in the past exhibited a foolish bravado (such as when he invited insurgents in Iraq to ‘Bring it on!’), but bullish posturing is far removed from political courage. Similarly, ’staying the course’ in Iraq can be seen not as courage but as inordinate stubbornness in the face of self-crafted defeat. The ‘unilateralism’ that characterised the first term of his presidency is more likely to be viewed as stupidity than as courageousness given intervening events between then and now.
It seems to me that the only reason to hope that Bush might use the summit to forward the cause of lasting peace in Israel and Palestine is that he has nothing to lose by doing so. His presidency will be forever tainted by the fiasco of Iraq, but even minor success on the Palestine-Israel front could mollify history’s view of him. Further to this, there is nothing to be gained for anyone by letting yet another peace summit slide by without painful compromises. Israel will never have peace until it accepts that its borders must approximate those of before 1967; Palestinians will never have a proper state until they cede their claimed right of return; and America will always be resented in the wider Middle East as long as it is seen to be reflexively pro-Israel.
Here’s hoping that Mr Bush rises to The Economist’s exhortations, but I won’t be holding my breath.
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