The British have been getting increasingly cranky lately. Now that their hopes for the outcome of our presidential election have been dashed, the pressure on PM Blair to lean on President Bush to lean on Israel (harder) is mounting. And Blair seems to be making at least a good faith attempt to comply.
Last Wednesday, Blair delivered a subtle challenge to the President
I have long argued that the need to revitalise the Middle East peace process is the single most pressing political challenge in our world today.
which was more or less rebuffed by Bush during his press conference on Thursday.
I'll start with Tony Blair's comments. I agree with him that the Middle East peace is a very important part of a peaceful world. I have been working on Middle Eastern peace ever since I've been the President. I've laid down some -- a very hopeful strategy on -- in June of 2002, and my hope is that we will make good progress. I think it's very important for our friends, the Israelis, to have a peaceful Palestinian state living on their border. And it's very important for the Palestinian people to have a peaceful, hopeful future. That's why I articulated a two-state vision in that Rose Garden speech. I meant it when I said it and I mean it now.
"Very important" hardly equates with "the single most pressing political challenge in our world today." Bush knows that things just aren't that simple. Suddenly, Blair appears to have forgotten.
The beat goes on. In yesterday's Sunday Times, an article appeared with the headline, "Blair to pressure Bush for London summit."
TONY BLAIR will press George W Bush to join a new push to revive the Middle East peace process when he flies to Washington this week for his first face-to-face talks with the US president since his re-election.Blair wants Bush’s backing for a special conference of key Israeli and Palestinian figures to be held in London in the new year. The prime minister made clear last week he wanted the Arab-Israeli conflict to be a priority for Bush in his second term.
The chances of an agreement may have been enhanced by the condition of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, who is reported to be near death in a Paris clinic.
“A Middle East peace settlement is possible,†said a senior British government source. “Moderates on both sides know this. The prime minister knows resolving this issue is key to stopping terrorism.â€
There seems to be a broad assumption among the pundits these days that the (acknowledged) passing of Arafat will open the door for peace. More to the point, there's a lot of huffing and puffing in the press about how Ariel Sharon will no longer have an "excuse" to avoid making peace with the palestinians. Meryl points to a fine example. Here's another.
Allow me to rain heavily on this parade. The poison that Arafat has implanted, at the behest and with the able assistance of every Arab government in the Middle East, will not dissipate with his last artificially induced breath. It will linger on for a long, long time. In fact, I'd say that one significance of the passing of Arafat may well be this: that when and only when his memory becomes a curse among his own people, when the palestinians cringe at hearing his name, when they spit on whatever grave he ends up in -- only then will that door to peace begin to come ajar.
Imagine, just for a moment, a Germany in which Hitler remained a universal symbol of pride and honor after WWII. Would the Allies have been able to fashion a sustainable peace with such a Germany?
There's no doubt that Arafat has been a substantial obstacle to peace, but in utterly consistent fashion, he's made damn sure that the obstacles will survive him. He's ensured that an entire generation of palestinians will continue his million martyr march, perhaps even more energetically in his absence. It's going to take more than a new face in the Mukata. And that's entirely aside from the issue of Hamas et al., who have no intention of allowing any true peace to prevail.
Sorry to be a bummer.
Update: Daniel Pipes has a substantially more complex and even gloomier outlook.
