No one following Bush parade in Mideast
The Bush administration’s lame-duck status was clearly on display during the president’s just-concluded five-day trip to the Mideast.
President George W. Bush’s chief accomplishment may have been getting a standing ovation from the Israeli parliament after he wished Israelis Happy Independence Day in Hebrew.
Progress toward the administration’s proposed two-state Mideast solution?
Zilch.
Persuade the Saudis to significantly boost oil production?
Nope.
When Bush leaves the White House next January, it’s more likely than not that chances for peace between Israel and the Palestinians will be more remote than when he moved in eight years earlier.
One factor is that the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is weakened by a corruption scandal.
It’s also clear that America has lost standing during the Bush tenure as an even-handed and trustworthy broker in peace negotiations.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas indicated disappointment with Bush’s speech to the Israeli parliament in an interview with The Associated Press. “All that we want from them (Americans) is to stand by (our) legitimacy and have a minimum of neutrality,” Abbas said. “The Bush speech at the Knesset angered us, and we were not happy with it,’ Abbas said Sunday. “… I frankly, clearly and transparently asked him that the American position should be balanced.”
Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian cabinet minister, was more blunt. “The president was himself, finally. Maybe because this is the end of his political career,” Khatib told the Los Angeles Times. “This is actually him. … I always thought he was a Christian Zionist and a fundamentalist ideologue.”
Meanwhile the Bush administration seems to be experiencing more difficulty in convincing other Arab leaders to go along with its policy of isolating Iran.
The ebbing clout of this policy was demonstrated when Lebanese President Foud Siniora, had to cancel a planned meeting with Bush after the radical Shiite group Hezbollah took over much of Beirut, the nation’s capital. Iran supports Hezbollah with money, training and equipment.
Siniora criticized Bush for not doing enough to support Lebanon, and called on Bush to pressure the Israeli’s to end their occupation,” according to USA Today.
Bush’ visit apparently was intended to lend momentum to ongoing peace negotiations that the administration tried to jump-start at a summit in Annapolis late last year.
Unfortunately, at this point Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are just going through the motions of negotiation without actually engaging both sides. They’re trying to lead a parade, but no one is following.
President George W. Bush’s chief accomplishment may have been getting a standing ovation from the Israeli parliament after he wished Israelis Happy Independence Day in Hebrew.
Progress toward the administration’s proposed two-state Mideast solution?
Zilch.
Persuade the Saudis to significantly boost oil production?
Nope.
When Bush leaves the White House next January, it’s more likely than not that chances for peace between Israel and the Palestinians will be more remote than when he moved in eight years earlier.
One factor is that the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is weakened by a corruption scandal.
It’s also clear that America has lost standing during the Bush tenure as an even-handed and trustworthy broker in peace negotiations.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas indicated disappointment with Bush’s speech to the Israeli parliament in an interview with The Associated Press. “All that we want from them (Americans) is to stand by (our) legitimacy and have a minimum of neutrality,” Abbas said. “The Bush speech at the Knesset angered us, and we were not happy with it,’ Abbas said Sunday. “… I frankly, clearly and transparently asked him that the American position should be balanced.”
Ghassan Khatib, a former Palestinian cabinet minister, was more blunt. “The president was himself, finally. Maybe because this is the end of his political career,” Khatib told the Los Angeles Times. “This is actually him. … I always thought he was a Christian Zionist and a fundamentalist ideologue.”
Meanwhile the Bush administration seems to be experiencing more difficulty in convincing other Arab leaders to go along with its policy of isolating Iran.
The ebbing clout of this policy was demonstrated when Lebanese President Foud Siniora, had to cancel a planned meeting with Bush after the radical Shiite group Hezbollah took over much of Beirut, the nation’s capital. Iran supports Hezbollah with money, training and equipment.
Siniora criticized Bush for not doing enough to support Lebanon, and called on Bush to pressure the Israeli’s to end their occupation,” according to USA Today.
Bush’ visit apparently was intended to lend momentum to ongoing peace negotiations that the administration tried to jump-start at a summit in Annapolis late last year.
Unfortunately, at this point Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are just going through the motions of negotiation without actually engaging both sides. They’re trying to lead a parade, but no one is following.
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