'New and lively tune'

by George S. Hishmeh

There is no doubt that President George W. Bush meant what he said and he deserves praise for his unexpected forthrightness after his meeting last Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

"I told the prime minister," the president said with Sharon standing at his side at a press briefing following their talks, "of my concern that Israel not undertake any activity that contravenes roadmap obligations, or prejudice final status negotiations. Therefore, Israel should remove unauthorised outposts and meet its roadmap obligations regarding settlements in the West Bank."

And during the question-and-answer session that followed he elaborated when a reporter thought there was some contradiction there. Bush emphasised: "If he listens to what I say, he won't hear anything contradictory. I've been very clear that Israel has an obligation under the roadmap. That's no expansion of settlements."

Americans for Peace Now, a sister organisation of the Israeli Peace Now movement, "applauded" the American leader for "raising concerns about (Israeli) settlement expansion and settlement outposts", and the American Task Force on Palestine, a leading Palestinian-American organisation, "welcomed" the new American position.

But the excitement over the seemingly even-handed position appeared to be subdued. In fact, this reticence to go all out for Bush probably stems from fear that it is too good to be true, unbelievable, especially that the Israeli leadership did not appear at first glance to mind this turnaround or slap in the face.

Actually, the Israeli leader had this obnoxious response: "It is the Israeli position that the major Israeli population centres (in the occupied West Bank) will remain in Israel's hands under any future final status agreement, with all related consequences." But he surely must realise that such an outcome can only be reached by negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.

Bush acknowledged that much when repeating the essence of his regrettable letter of last year to the Israeli leader, which many believe had contributed to the "confusion and imbalance" in the American stance. He said this time that "new realities on the ground make it unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949," adding: "It is realistic to expect that any final status agreement will be only on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these realities that's the American view."

There were other noteworthy differences between the American and Israeli leaders, particularly in their conflicting assessment of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and whether the peace process will proceed matter-of-course after the anticipated Israeli withdrawal this summer from the Gaza Strip and a few Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank.

How serious is this confrontation is too early to tell, but Bush ought to be prepared should Sharon decide to proceed, willy-nilly, with his imperialistic plans. Would he, for example, be ready to take stiff measures against Israel, something in line with what his father did when he threatened to stop financial assistance?

More importantly, Bush will be receiving before the end of the month Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the author of an all-Arab peace plan that was not promoted adequately, who will be expecting American appreciation for Saudi Arabia's forward-looking but slow-moving reform and counterterrorism policies and actions.

Last but not least, Abbas, the untested Palestinian president, will be making his first appearance at the White House (or Crawford), an event that may throw more light on the shape of things to come in the Middle East. But to date, his failure to revamp the Palestinian presence in the United States is not very encouraging. All he should do, for a start, is to look at what the Israeli side is doing. Upon completing his talks with the president at his Texas ranch, Sharon flew into Washington for a meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney and then had a meeting with Jewish members of the US Congress, to cite but a few events.

The Palestinians cannot afford to miss an occasion to make friends here, and judging by the readiness of many groups to come up and lend a hand, it should be smooth sailing for some time. But judging by the actions of the Abbas regime, which has failed to send one emissary to Washington since last November to knock on doors (except for the belated and unpublicised presence last week of two Cabinet ministers who shunned many friends here), the future is not very promising.

The Palestinians have to get their act together and the sooner the better, especially that Bush may not be singing his new and lively tune for too long.

This article was published in the Friday-Saturday, April 15-16, 2005 edition of the Jordan Times. It is used here with permission.