THE U.S. MUST LEAD
The New York Times
Wednesday, April 3, 2002
With bloodshed increasing by the day in the Middle East, someone has to change the political dynamic before violence consumes Israel and destroys the national aspirations of the Palestinians. The only world leader with the authority and influence to make a difference at this perilous hour is President George W. Bush. Though he may not want to step up American involvement, Bush has no choice. His administration must work with other governments in the region and the world at large to create a new diplomatic opening that can help still the violence and bring the conflict back into the political and diplomatic arena, where it belongs.
Understandably infuriated by the recent spate of deadly bombings, Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, seems determined to end terrorism by military means alone. Sharon must defend the security of Israel. But simply sending tanks into the West Bank and Gaza Strip will not end Palestinian violence. Bush does Israel no favors by failing to say so more clearly.
The challenge facing the White House is formidable. The combination of Sharon and Yasser Arafat never offered great promise for peacemaking, and the Bush administration's early efforts to end the violence and rekindle negotiations fell short. Nevertheless, the White House took too long to appreciate the gravity of the present crisis. Even now it undermines its own tentative diplomatic efforts with inconsistent messages. Bush's public expressions of understanding over the weekend of Israel's siege of Arafat's compound in Ramallah seemed to contradict America's vote just hours earlier for a United Nations Security Council resolution calling on Israel to withdraw its troops. The president's remarks also may have complicated the work of his special envoy, Anthony Zinni, sent to win agreement from both sides on a cease-fire leading to a withdrawal of Israeli forces from West Bank towns.
There is no moral equivalence between the indefensible evil of suicide bombings and Israel's military actions to defeat terror. Still, Washington must find ways to insist that both sides show greater restraint. It should also begin organizing a broad international effort to shape a peace settlement with which Israelis and Palestinians can live.
There are plenty of constructive ideas to build on, including the substantial progress made by Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in their last round of talks early last year, an American-sponsored UN resolution last month calling for an end to violence and the creation of a Palestinian state, and the Saudi proposal for a full Arab-Israeli peace now endorsed by the Arab League. What is needed is the will to move this conflict back to the negotiating table, something America alone can supply.
Washington should start by trying to resuscitate Zinni's flagging mission. The White House should press Israel to withdraw from Ramallah and other West Bank cities. Zinni should call on Sharon to agree to a clear link between the security provisions of the cease-fire plan outlined last year by George Tenet, the CIA director, and the more political elements of the negotiation road map proposed by former Senator George Mitchell. Even if Arafat agrees to enforce a cease-fire, he would have a hard time making it stick without visible progress toward ending Israeli occupation and achieving Palestinian statehood.
Bush should also send Secretary of State Colin Powell to mobilize international backing for a new peace effort. He should enlist support from President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and Arab leaders like Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah of Jordan and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.
The framework on which recent peace talks were built, the Oslo agreement of 1993, has been all but swept away by the violence. But one crucial element remains and must be preserved - Oslo's ultimate vision of two separate states, one Jewish and one Palestinian, living together in peace. Israeli and Palestinian leaders say they still believe in this two-state solution, although they have stopped believing in each other. To get them talking about it again will take concerted outside help.
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