In the 2000 Presidential Debates, Bush was asked what he thought about the Israeli-Palestenian conflict, and what he would do to help resolve it, and he responded kurtly "America is a Friend of Israel." Nothing more. Apparently he felt no further depth of reflection was necessary.
Seven years later and I still remember the moment very clearly. He was wrong then, not just in strategy but in statement. America has not been a friend to Israel, or if it has, it has been the worst kind of friend possible: the kind of friend always pushing you to do the things you know are bad for you, but want to anyway. Funny how those kind of friends always seem to stay clean of the trouble they get you into.
Both Ross and Brzezinski reserve special contempt for Bush's handling of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, shifting the US position from that of an honest broker, albeit one sympathetic to one side, to a partisan ready to indulge whatever course Israel chose to adopt. Here Ross draws on his experience as Middle East envoy during the years of the Oslo peace process, explaining how disengagement by the Bush administration has not only prevented progress but also actively aggravated the conflict. Both authors lay out how the administration's refusal to undertake the hard work of peacemaking has deprived the Palestinians of the state they have craved so long, denied Israel the long-term security it needs, and allowed the sore that most poisons Muslim attitudes toward the West to fester.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment