A Firm 'Road Map'
WASHINGTON — President Bush's promise that a "road map" to Middle East peace will soon be presented to Israel and the Palestinians has provoked considerable skepticism worldwide. But that's no surprise given the president's record.
Since coming to office in January 2001, the Bush administration has proclaimed its commitment to several Middle East initiatives. First, in April 2001, came the so-called Mitchell plan, proposed by a fact-finding commission headed by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine), that called for an end to violence followed by political negotiations. Then, a couple of months later, came the Tenet "work plan," devised by CIA Director George J. Tenet to reaffirm and kick-start the Mitchell plan. Finally, there was special envoy Gen. Anthony Zinni's mission to the region, which commenced in November 2001 with the promise that he would stay "as long as it takes" to get the process going. But when the going got rough following last spring's Passover terror attack, the administration simply pulled him out. He did not return.
The failures of these initiatives don't reflect a lack of determination or sincerity on the parts of Mitchell, Tenet, Zinni or any of the State Department officials who have set out to end the violence. They have failed because Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was first unwilling and then incapable of stopping the suicide bombing that was terrorizing Israel. When pauses in the terror came, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dismissed them as insignificant and demanded longer periods of "quiet" before he would enter into any kind of talks. At the same time, violent opponents of negotiations on the Palestinian side -- Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Tanzim militia, which is linked to Arafat's Fatah organization -- essentially achieved veto power over any progress by launching attacks they knew would provoke Israeli reprisals and cause Sharon to invoke his demand for additional quiet before negotiations.
It was a strange kind of dance, with Arafat and Sharon -- and two suffering peoples -- being led into the deadliest of dead ends. The U.S. mediators never really had a chance.
Not all the blame, however, lies with the local players. President Bush came to office a few months after the Al Aqsa intifada began and, almost immediately, sent out the word that his administration had no intention of following President Clinton's example of fully engaging in resolving the conflict. Administration officials said they would pursue a "regional" approach and then, pointedly, moved the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a back burner. It has remained there since, except for the occasional statement following some atrocity.
