Now that the Bush administration is nearing a claim to victory in the first phase of the military campaign in Iraq, the president must follow through with other crucial objectives related to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Foremost among them are finding and destroying all weapons of mass destruction (with the approval of the international community), helping form a legitimate and democratic Interim Iraqi Authority and patching up the many rifts that surfaced among U.N. members during the course of deliberations over Resolution 1441.
Perhaps most important is American's role as it relates to Israel. Members of the international "Quartet," the United States, United Nations, the European Union and Russia, have been at odds with America in ongoing disputes over what constitutes an "evenhanded policy" with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While many have been proponents of the oft-hyped "road map" to peace, it means little without forcing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, newly installed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) and the somewhat "relevant" Yasar Arafat to make real concessions for the sake of world stability. A good way to ensure that Bush sees eye-to-eye with Sharon and Abbas is by going to Tel Aviv and Ramallah, and talking to these leaders himself.
Bush should "show his cards" to Sharon and Mazen. It's time that the president demonstrates that "he means what he says," not only when he discusses Iraq, but in other policy as well. He must show that the resolve he values so deeply should apply to the Israel-Palestinian question, too.
He should stop being vague to the Likud leadership about withdrawing from settlements in the West Bank and Gaza (as he was on June 24, 2002 and in his speech last month to the American Enterprise Institute) and concurrently, should work out the Palestinian refugee problem with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He should make clear that he is serious about the date as to when settlements will be uprooted -- and he must see it done. The best way to do this is by telling Sharon that it is in his best interest to force National Religious Party member Effi Eitam to resign; Eitam, whose party's main platform promotes settlements, is the Israeli Minister of Housing and Construction.
Although it may seem a little unrealistic to envision Bush, Sharon and Mazen in the same position as Bill Clinton, Yizhak Rabin and Arafat were in back in 1993, it's just also cynical to think that Bush and Sharon cannot pave the way for true peace. Sharon must prove that he is a willing partner not just in fighting terror, which he has done effectively, but also in fighting Israeli extremism. The Prime Minister can do so by telling Eitam and others who are harming Israel proper to give up their portfolios, and by working out the refugee issue with Labor and other parties more in sync with regular Israelis.
What about Abu Mazen? The president should tell the Palestinian premier that if he cares at all about the well-being of his people, he must truly reign in Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the other terror groups who are only damaging the Palestinian cause. Sharon has made abundantly clear that the occupation can only end if terror stops; Bush seems to agree with this.
Moreover, he must make clear to Hamas and other terror groups that Israel is there to stay. So if they truly care about the Palestinian people as they claim they do, then suicide bombings are not only killing civilians but the hopes of the Palestinian people, too. Therefore, Mazen must make explicit to Hamas' spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, that his and other extremists' messages, initiatives and actions are destroying the dream of a Palestinian state and with it the prospect of normalizing Palestinian life.
Bush, then, must be unequivocal in saying to Abu Mazen that Arafat is out of the negotiating picture, and that the former leader will retain only figurehead relevance.
In this post-Saddam geopolitical climate, we all realize that talk is cheap. "Painful concessions" will only have substantive weight if Bush looks Sharon and Mazen in the eye and lets them know that Palestinian as well as Israeli extremists are out of step with public opinion and more importantly that peace is no less important than Israeli democratic representation and the PA's own, hopefully reformed, security apparatus.
It is cynical to say that a two-state solution is impossible. But Bush must not postpone this problem any longer, further feeding the fires of cynicism. He needs to use his success in Iraq to show the world that we can't let the extremists continue to dictate the state of affairs in the Middle East. And I doubt that the United Nations, the European Union and Russia would prevent Bush from relaying his message of ceasing extremism directly to Sharon and Mazen.
Sean Pattap is a senior majoring in Economics and English.
