Israel and Palestine

Last year, after seven years of being disengaged on the Israelis and Palestinian problem, President Bush and Secretary of State Rice set out an agenda to forge an agreement on the long running problem to be concluded this month, November.   The idea was to finally get involved so the Bush administration would have a foreign policy triumph before he leaves office.  But it is not to be.

 

The Los Angeles Times reports Rice has just completed her latest and final visit to the middle east and acknowledged the failure of the talks to reach a peace deal by the end of the Bush administration.  The Times article also reported:

 

       

         Hani Masri, a Palestinian analyst and columnist said, It's dead, and they don't want to admit the

         failure.  All it produced was a model for negotiations until the end of time. 

 

         Menachem Klein, a political science professor at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, said the negotiations 

         produced no tangible progress while the situation on the ground actually moved backward in the past

         year. 

 

The American people would do well to remember that Bush blamed the lack of progress on the problem at the foot of Yasser Arafat.  Well Arafat passed away in 2004 and still no progress.  Israel has to share in much of the blame as well as a detached Bush.  Israel is still building settlements on Palestinian land and this issue is a huge problem. 

 

When Obama takes office his administration needs to pursue the problem head on and put the responsibility on both nations to work out a workable and lasting peace in the middle east.  Obama needs to make sure the U.S. does not favor one side or the other; the U.S. has turned a blind eye for too long to Israeli transgressions.  Why would any nation be willing to be part of any agreement that is not even handed?

 

Obama needs to ensure the right approach is taken in future talks and make it clear that both Israel and Palestine will be held accountable if progress is not made.  The status quo has to come to an end.