The Ball Is In Our Court

The United States, and only the United States, is the final political arbiter between Israel and the Palestinians, for only we have the power to stop the current ferocious cycle of mutual destruction. Unfortunately, up until now the Bush administration has shown no vision for peace, no determination and no leadership. The ball remains in our court: we must now step up the diplomatic pressure and act decisively and imaginatively if we want to stop the conflict from spinning completely out of control and stay on course in pursuing our objective of winning the war against terrorism.

Surely we can point the finger at Palestinian Authority Chairman Arafat who must bear the brunt of the blame for his unwillingness to reign in Hamas and other extremist groups to end the violence. And Prime Minister Sharon can also be blamed for reacting, though understandably, to public pressure rather than exercising leadership by extracting his countrymen from this seemingly endless cycle of bloodshed. But here is where western logic ends and Middle Eastern logic begins. Not once since the birth of Israel in1948, has anything been agreed upon between Israel and the Arab states without our exerting intense pressure on both sides to reach a mutual accommodation. The profound distrust between Israel and the Palestinians and their fears for the future make our direct and active involvement imperative.

It took a year before the Bush administration noticed that Israel and Palestine were burning. Finally, after much hesitation and fear of failure, we dispatched General Zinni to try to revive last year's plan by CIA Director George Tenant for a cease-fire to be followed by the implementation of former Senator Mitchell's plan for confidence-building measures that would lead to political negotiation. General Zinni's mission has ended in failure twice. His third and current mission preceded Vice President Cheney's tour of the Middle East earlier this month to drum-up support for the administration's plans to attack Iraq. The general consensus among the region's leaders, including Arafat, and to a lesser extent Sharon, was that the administration was acting merely to placate the Arab leaders about Iraq, and no real American muscles were keenly flexed to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian breakthrough. So the killings continued.

A series of suicide bombings, culminating in Passover night's mindless carnage, followed by Israel's massive incursion into Palestinian-held territories, coupled with a few more suicide bomber attacks have changed the entire dynamic of the conflict. It is a war and will not be ended by our simply making more pleas for a cease-fire. Two critical developments have occurred in the past week: the UN Security Council's resolution calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state and the endorsement by the Arab leaders of a Saudi proposal that calls for peace with normal relations between Israel and the Arab states in exchange for the return of territories captured during the 1967 war. Both of these important initiatives have received strong support by the Bush administration, but the president must now build on them by adopting a new and bold strategy. To achieve that, the president must have a vision for an ultimate settlement along the lines of the Saudi proposal and then show determination and leadership to exert all the necessary political pressure. The United States has tremendous political, economic and diplomatic leverage that it can bring to bear, and we must not hesitate to use it. The American initiative must begin with the following:

First, because Mr. Sharon and Mr. Arafat need a face-saving way out, President Bush must demand that they issue simultaneous statements. Arafat must in Arabic call upon all Palestinian factions to cease and desist from violence against Israeli targets, while Sharon must declare Israel's willingness to enter into political negotiation. Immediately afterward, both leaders must take steps toward the implementation of these goals: Arafat must begin by arresting Palestinian militants and Sharon must order the withdrawal of Israeli forces. Meanwhile security and political committees must both get down to work. Should Arafat refuse, the president must not hesitate to threaten to take significant punitive actions including, for example, declaring Arafat a persona non grata or withdrawal of our diplomatic recognition of the Palestinian Authority. Arafat needs an excuse to justify his compliance and we must supply him with it.

Second, President Bush must insist that all Arab heads of state friendly to us renounce and denounce any form of terrorist activity against Israel. The only way the Israeli public will take seriously Crown Prince Abdullah's peace plan is if the Arab leaders demonstrate in words and in deeds that they mean what they say. Specifically, Saudis and other Arab states should be encouraged to initiate direct contact with Israel rather than encourage more violence. When the Israeli people are convinced of the Arab states' peaceful intentions and the suicide bombings end, they, in turn, will put pressure on their government to show flexibility for peace.

Third, the president must also call upon Jewish, Christian and Islamic religious leaders from the region to speak up against the raging madness in the very cradle of the three great religions. Their silence has been deafening. It is time that they sound the alarm and beseech their followers to use religious teaching for peace and amity, and not for death, destruction and despair.

Fourth, as talented and capable as General Zinni is, his mandate may have inadvertently been weakened by the unfolding events. At least initially, the President himself must enter the political fray and use the power of his office to give his demands some muscle. If Mr. Bush wishes to keep Zinni on his job, he will have to strengthen his mandate and make him a special envoy to the president, speaking on his behalf and reporting directly to him. General Zinni must remain in the region for as long as it takes to do the job he was sent to do. The Israeli and Palestinian public will be watching how committed the administration is to staying involved and what measures it is prepared to take to force both sides to make the necessary concessions for peace.

President Bush has had his reasons not to get mired in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but now he must realize that America is mired in this conflict one way or the other. There is no escape. We must either take charge and shape a peaceful outcome that will benefit all parties concerned, including ourselves, or leave the Israelis and the Palestinians to their own devices. That is not an option we can afford, if we want to maintain our leadership position and our vital strategic interests throughout the region.