June/July 2002, page 25

Affairs of State

Sharon’s Fifth Visit: Another Bombing, Dramatic Moments

Eugene Bird

It was more than a little surreal to be standing in the Oval Office among the Israeli press corps and hear the prime minister of Israel and the president of the United States agree that it was of utmost importance that the Palestinian Authority (PA) be reformed, reorganize its security services into one service, and become democratic. Affirmed spokesman Richard Boucher at the State Department afterward, “The road to ending the occupation begins with reforming the Palestinian Authority.”

No one reminded him that Israel had negotiated all its peace treaties with states it itself defines as undemocratic—namely, Egypt and Jordan. The Palestinians, apparently, are to be held to a higher standard.

The president and the prime minister differed on whether Yasser Arafat was directly connected with “terrorism.” A 20-page document issued with much fanfare by the Israeli Embassy fizzled under the scrutiny of the press corps, which considered it questionable at best as proof that Arafat had inspired terror against civilians. President Bush did not directly address the documentation, which had been distributed to members of Congress as well. He did indicate once again, however, that Israel must deal with the Palestinian leadership, reiterating as well that Arafat could do more to stop the bombings. Bush did not admonish Sharon, however, to end the incursions into Palestinian cities by Israeli tanks and troops, nor was any mention made of Jewish settlements.

There was reference to the planned meeting of foreign ministers—an idea Sharon again took credit for initiating. It remains without details, agenda, or even when or where the Spanish and Russian foreign ministers, the European Commission’s Mideast representative, and the U.S. secretary of state would meet this summer. In fact, the widely ballyhooed conference already looks like it will be little more than a debate over simply stopping the violence in the Middle East.

In the week prior to Sharon’s U.S. visit, pro-Israel organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), launched open attacks on Saudi Arabia—whose Crown Prince Abdullah had just visited President Bush at his Texas ranch. Sharon, speaking at the ADL conference in Washington—which received blanket television coverage—trumpeted his assertion that no Israeli soldier ever would be interrogated by an outside investigating committee—whether of the U.N. or any other body or state—regarding actions in Jenin or elsewhere.

The Bush administration still seems paralyzed by domestic political considerations. Only 15 months into office, President Bush continues his not-so-delicate balancing act between an Israel kow-towing Congress and Christian Zionists. He has only a narrow majority in the House and needs to restore the Republican majority in the Senate. Bush knew going into his meeting with Sharon that the Israeli prime minister was heading for Capitol Hill immediately afterward, and that the representatives of American citizens were ready, if they could, to provide Sharon anything the president might have denied him.

Remarkable Changes

U.S. policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict underwent some remarkable changes between Sharon’s fourth and fifth visits, however. President Bush said the occupation must end—without giving any timeline. Secretary of State Powell was sent to the region on a trip which seemed remarkable for the frankness of Arab leaders, who confronted the U.S. over Palestine. At his ranch the president—much to the unease of some members of Congress—met for five hours with Crown Prince Abdullah. And, finally, on the same day as the Bush-Sharon White House meeting, Secretary of State Powell met with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.

Without meaningful and assertive U.S. and world action, however, the old general who uses the Old Testament as the basis of his fire-and-brimstone policy toward the Palestinians, blaming all for the actions of a few, simply will continue his war, as he did in Lebanon until the U.S. and other powers stepped in to end the siege of Beirut in 1982.

Aware of the need to find ways to continue the war on terrorism and still make progress on the Israeli-Palestinian front, the president gradually has been awakening to the meaning of land-for-peace and the implications of settlements in the Middle East, as well as the growing anti-American sentiment in the Arab and Muslim world. Despite Bush’s rhetoric, the fight against terrorism has verged several times on becoming a fight against Muslim society and its values—both at home and in the Middle East.

SIDEBAR 1

Secretary of State Powell Looks Toward the “Horizon”

Colin Powell was a hit with 600 retired foreign service officers who attended the annual Foreign Service Day in Washington May 10. He joked his way through a 20-minute talk about the large increase in the State Department’s recruitment of new officers (there are 26,000 applicants—double the usual number—for the 600 openings to be filled through the traditional exam process).

Powell pointed to the Department’s success in obtaining an additional $5 billion from Congress, primarily for the “21st Century Challenge” program aimed at assisting African nations and peoples to reach the twin goals of democratic institution building and a free market economy.

Secretary Powell used a fairly new term which U.S. policymakers have invented to get around the awkward fact that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his government have no intention of moving forward with real peace negotiations—including a new post-Oslo timeline, viewed as critical by Palestinians and the supporting Arab states alike. Instead of a negotiating “timeline,” Powell said the promised negotiations between the parties would have to include political—i.e., final status—talks with a definite “horizon” for such talks. A “horizon,” of course, would give the Israelis room to negotiate for years, if not decades.

Is this Powell’s intention, as he grapples with an increasingly anti-American Arab world? Perhaps he is using the term to give himself some wiggle room in the battle with his Defense Department opponents for linkage between moving forward on the Israel-Palestine civil war and moving on Iraq. Unfortunately, the combination of a “horizon” for negotiations and a mere “vision” for a Palestinian state matches too well the delaying tactics of Israel’s prime minister, who said in Washington that it was “premature” to consider a Palestinian state.

Perhaps the only way the Palestinian people can realize their dream of freedom is simply to do what Israel did in 1948 and declare a state of Palestine with borders as stipulated in the U.N.’s 1947 partition resolution. They would then have the latitude that is obviously required to negotiate borders back to the1967 Green Line.

—E.B.

Eugene Bird is president of the Council for the National Interest and diplomatic correspondent for the Washington Report.

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