Go Right To It, Mr. Negotiator...
President Barack Obama has been wasting no time in initiating his administration's effort to come to terms with the incendiary Middle East in general, the Israel-Palestinian conflict in particular. One of the first orders of business on his first day in office was to personally speak to the PA's President Mahmoud Abbas, to Israel's President Olmert, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, and Jordan's King Abdullah. An exercise of exhibiting commitment.Now the seasoned veteran, George Mitchell, has been assigned to the position of special envoy to the Middle East. This man has a heralded curriculum vitae as a peace negotiator, having helped to forge the Northern Ireland-British peace agreement. Which, for so many years appeared as though it might never be resolved, given the level of the violence and the commitment to brutality exhibited by all of the principals in the conflict.
But the Middle East? Is it even remotely possible that any effort, however Herculean, could result in a final status of peace between Israel and Syria's and Iran's proxy militias? For there lies the key to a Palestinian settlement. Mr. Mitchell is scheduled to depart his home country and travel to the Middle East "as soon as possible" to lend the conflict his seasoned diplomacy and reasoned experience.
Diplomacy and reason don't go over that big in the Middle East, between nations and the terror groups that plague them. Even terror groups that aspire to some level of legitimacy on the world stage as "freedom fighters", not "terror groups". President Obama has not minced words, stating his country's, and his own, determination to defend Israel's sovereign right to defend itself.
His compassion for the plight and the misery of the Palestinian population notwithstanding. Everything is contingent on Hamas, the intransigent jihadists determined to oust Israel from the geography, in coming to terms with the reality of Israeli possession of a portion of the land that was once Palestine, and is now destined forever to be half Israel, half Palestine, anew and sovereign.
Mr. Obama is determined to secure two states living side by side in peace. He is at least determined equal to the extent that former Presidents Carter, Clinton, and Bush presented themselves to be. Perhaps, as Mr. Obama is such an obviously singular individual with such great promise before him as an outstanding leader, he may be able to accomplish that which his predecessors could not.
"To be a genuine party to peace ... Hamas must meet clear conditions; recognize Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and abide by past agreements." Yes, indeed yes. And how, exactly - or even inexactly - is this to be accomplished? To persuade a bloody-minded, blood-soaked, supremely revanchist entity fuelled on hate and funded by two medieval-minded states, to do an abrupt turn-about in their vision and purpose?
Still, one cannot discount the potential for miracles. Miraculous intervention by a peace-and-freedom-dedicated society that has once more found its way through its own vale of tears and dysfunctionality. Mr. Obama's respected emissary, furthermore, has an even broader mandate for himself; to secure a wider peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Which has, of late, suffered an unfortunate set-back. Mr. Obama, however, has pledged to support an international donors conference in Egypt, to raise reconstruction funds for Gaza; a nice first step. Ah, a cautionary note slipped in there, lest overtures meet with stony indifference yet again: there were "many reasons to be skeptical" about the potential for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, sighed Mr. Obama's envoy.
Not to despair: "But the President and the Secretary of State don't believe that. The key is the mutual commitment of the parties, and the active participation of the United States government", said Mr. Mitchell, with regained confidence.
Oh, yes. Now let us pray.
Labels: Middle East, Political Realities, United States
posted by Pieface @ Friday, January 23, 2009
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