It's Bush's turn on Mideast peace
Thursday, May 1, 2003
A GOOD road map helps reach a far-off destination. But what if there are detours ahead, alternate routes, or disputes on whether the map is upside down or outdated?
President Bush unfolded his set of directions for reaching peace in the Mideast this week. Defeating Iraq is nothing compared to keeping Israelis and Palestinians on the track laid out by his vaunted "road map."
Still, there hasn't been a better moment. A U.S. military victory in Iraq has helped reshuffle the deck. Under strong U.S. pressure, Palestinian leadership has passed from Yasser Arafat, ostracized by the White House, to Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate.
It's a major turnabout, but many more will be needed to find peace. The road map, drawn over the past year by the "quartet" team of the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia, contains many critical parts.
For the White House, the biggest test is a promise from the PLO to abate terrorism. Bush refused to meet with Arafat, believing the PLO leader was inextricably linked to bombings and killings directed at Israeli civilians.
His successor, Abbas, has denounced such tactics, but the problem remains. On Abbas' first day as PLO prime minister, a suicide bomber killed two civilians and wounded 30 outside a Tel Aviv night spot near the U.S. Embassy.
Israel faces challenges, too. It must give up settlements set up since 2001 and withdraw from Palestinian autonomous zones occupied in recent months by the Israeli military in the name of anti-terrorism.
There's a you-go-first challenge before each side. Future debates will be just as hard: economic aid for a new Palestine, the status of Jerusalem claimed by both sides and the right of return for millions of Palestinians living elsewhere.
Just as difficult is Bush's role as an evenhanded peacemaker. The hawks behind the Iraq war are also strong backers of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whose hard-line tactics rarely draw a peep of protest from the White House.
On the spot will be Secretary of State Colin Powell, a comparative moderate,
who will push Israel to concede settlements and pull back from Palestinian areas. His Mideast parlaying begins this week with the first of several trips to the region.
Nothing will get done if terrorism continues. Bipartisan letters from Congress favor the road map and Bush's active role. But support for the initiative will evaporate, ruining months of work, if terrorist bombings continue.
It will be up to Abbas to use his limited political capital to rein in and isolate extremist forces. Israel, in turn, will be painfully constrained not to react to deadly provocation while the road map is examined and tested.
The road map will push President Bush onto a new stage. With a successful military phase of the Iraq campaign behind him, he must move on to the bigger challenge of getting Israel and a new Palestine to live side by side in peace.
©2003 San Francisco Chronicle