Mideast Dealing

April 15, 2004

For years, Palestinian and Arab leaders have begged the United States to be an honest broker toward Middle East peace. It's hard to see President George W. Bush's support for Israel's unilateral withdrawal as anything but a rejection of that entreaty. And it's hard to imagine how it advances the cause of peace.

Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appeared triumphant at their joint news conference Wednesday, in which Bush reversed years of U.S. policy. He said the United States would accept the continued existence of some Israeli settlements on the West Bank and that Palestinians must give up thoughts of returning to anything but the Palestinian state the U.S. and Israeli leaders began carving out.

But how can displaced Palestinians trust that they will have a home, since the boundaries are being set without them? Bush's letter to Sharon assures that both sides have to accept the terms. However, because he and Sharon were negotiating the Palestinians' future, it would have been prudent to include them.

The concessions Bush made Wednesday would likely have ended up part of any final agreement on a two-state solution. But pulling the issues from the negotiating table leaves the Palestinians little to bargain with or for. Palestinian leaders have to be able to show their people that they have something to gain by stopping senseless suicide bombings.

"The way to stop terrorism and violence is to restore some hope of a political process that would deliver a Palestinian state and liberation for the Palestinian people," said Philip Wilcox, president of the Washington-based Foundation for Middle East Peace, who spent much of his 31-year career at the State Department working toward peace.

Wednesday's developments don't excuse Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for saying they would lead to a "cycle of violence." Arafat has been a colossal failure at delivering peace, or even security. But he and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia are the leaders Sharon and Bush have to deal with.

They can't just talk among themselves and declare victory.