Het Israelisch Expansionisme 64

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, US President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert smile for the cameras at Annapolis, Maryland, 26 November 2007. (Omar Rashidi/MaanImages)

So it is over. The much heralded Annapolis "meeting" attended by over 50 countries and organizations has ended, and the result is a vague, non-binding agreement to begin negotiating. In typical fashion, the Bush administration has hailed the conference of low-expectations and even less tangible results as a "success." Instead of donning a flight suit and landing on an aircraft carrier, US President George W. Bush offered his best Bill Clinton imitation presiding over a ceremonial handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, like an approving father or Roman emperor. However, rather than remind observers of the halcyon days of September 1993, the oft repeated handshake between Israeli and Palestinian leaders leads many to paraphrase Karl Marx: "History repeats itself first as tragedy, second as farce." Indeed, a farce has been carried out in the last week of November, where the conference was symbolically and cynically timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the United Nations' vote to partition Palestine. If symbolism was what the Bush administration sought in planning this conference, they were at least partially successful, as both Saudi Arabia and Syria sent high level diplomatic officials. Yet, the emptiness of those symbols and associated declarations served to only further engender cynicism among observers around the world working toward a just resolution of this conflict. While President Bush spoke about bringing "peace to the holy land" it is hard to ignore that for over six years his administration has steadfastly refused to engage in meaningful diplomacy aimed at ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead, they chose to back the "iron fist" policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Contrary to their rhetoric, closer analysis reveals that the Bush Administration has neither the political will, nor the desire, to resolve the conflict and create a Palestinian state. Indeed, President Bush lacks the attention span and motivation to even preside over the "process" of negotiations. That task has fallen on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Although she largely ignored the conflict during her term as National Security Adviser and first two years as Secretary of State, Rice's decision to reengage late last year was driven by Washington's attempt to contain Iran's growing influence in the Middle East. The need for containment was further reinforced by Israel's failed invasion of Lebanon and Gaza in 2006 and with it, the Bush Administration's vision, as enunciated by Rice, of a "new Middle East." Publication of the Iraq Study Group report in late 2006 provided political cover for Rice against neoconservatives in the administration opposed to the US reengaging in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Led by former Secretary of State James Baker III, the main adviser to former President George H.W. Bush and architect of the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, the report called for Washington to reengage in the Arab-Israeli peace process. The result of Rice's belated efforts is a diplomatic strategy which combines the "confidence-building measures" of the Oslo Accords with the "performance-based benchmarks" of the "Roadmap for Peace." Moreover, Rice has clearly learned from her predecessors that all American Secretaries of State are required to perform public shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East, in order to provide the appearance that something is being accomplished.'

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