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Peace Process Unleashes Violence
By Yaffa Shira Fredrick, Israel
After almost eight years in office, President George W. Bush has suddenly set his presidential legacy on a strip of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Now in his last months in office, Bush claims that he can broker peace in the Middle East where so many American presidents before him have been unsuccessful.
"Why has Bush waited until his last term in office to try and bring peace to a region that has been in turmoil for the last 60 years? Many Israelis are skeptical of his sudden dove-like impulse." -Yaffa Shira Fredrick
The disputed territories in the West Bank and rocket attacks in areas near Gaza (such as Sderot and Ashkelon) were the topics of his Jan.9th-11th trip to the region during which meetings were held with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
Meanwhile checkpoints, bag inspections at shopping malls and metal detectors at bus stations remain the daily life for nearly 10 million Israelis and Palestinians. Even the most peace-loving people in the region don't hold out much hope that this time all of the parties will work together and security barriers will no longer block coexistence initiatives.
The question is, why now? Why has Bush waited until his last term in office to try and bring peace to a region that has been in turmoil for the last 60 years? Many Israelis are skeptical of his sudden dove-like impulse. Others, like Oren Tevet, an Israeli student currently studying at UC-San Diego, consider Bush's January visit absurd and a waste of Israeli security forces.
"Bush comes to Israel, shuts down four major hotels for himself and his personnel, places snipers on every Jerusalem roof top, and disrupts Jerusalem traffic. And for what? To play Model United Nations?"
Still others think Bush's sudden visit demonstrates his lack of understanding of the depth of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Since 1948 Israelis have attempted to make peace with their Palestinian neighbors, and each time the peace process has been a complete fiasco due largely to the Palestinian leadership's failure to cooperate.
"Does President Bush really think he can undue 60 years of corrupt Palestinian authority in one three-day visit to Israel?" asks 19-year-old Danya Chudacoff, a former resident of Israel currently studying at Brown University.
Shaynde Aloof, a young Israeli living right outside Jerusalem, could not agree with Chudacoff more. Aloof adds that naiveté must be the guiding principle behind an administration that originally placed its bets on democratizing Iraq as a first step on the road to peace in the Middle East. "He furthers Israel's perception of him as a man who is pulling for straws, not fully comprehending the true actors in the conflict."
Now in what appears to be a desperate attempt to try a different course, Bush is reaching out to Israel's neighbors- namely Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia-which he thinks he can get on board as true partners for peace. What he forgets according to historian Ken Spiro is, "The United States has lost its credibility as an ally to the Arab nations in the Middle East. They no longer view Bush as a harbinger of peace, but an extended arm of an all too powerful Israeli government."
And of course - as many on Israel's political right are quick to point out - one wonders whether peace can occur when the newly elected Hamas government (which holds approximately half of the seats in the Palestinian parliament) denies Israel's fundamental right to exist.
Malkie Ziegler, a recent American immigrant to one of the disputed West Bank settlements in Israel said, "You can't negotiate peace with a group you must first negotiate your right to life with."
In order to negotiate an enduring peace treaty, Israel needs an honest partner. Hamas, currently in control of Gaza and fighting for power in the West Bank, certainly is no such partner. Even Bush recognizes this fact. In fact, since Bush's visit, Israeli forces have been engaged in serious combat with Hamas terrorists in Gaza. When Israel closed Gaza off from the outside world - not permitting food or supplies to enter the area so that Israelis would be protected from Hamas' rocket attacks - militants blew a hole in the wall so Palestinians could enter Egypt.
While Bush is focusing on Fatah (Abbas' party) in the hopes that it will maintain control of the West Bank - the area with the largest Palestinian presence - even Palestinians are doubtful this will reap favorable results.
"The Palestinian people were frustrated with Abbas' false promises to end corruption and bring about social reform," said Khaled Abu Toameh, a Palestinian and Arab Israeli reporter for The Jerusalem Post. "In response, they chose Hamas." Despite the few seats Fatah holds in Parliament, it no longer can be called the true party of the Palestinian people.
And as the Palestinians have switched their allegiance to Hamas, a party whose primary financer is Iran's Ahmadenijad, there are now additional lethal roadblocks to peace for Israel. As such, the Israelis can't help but wonder whether this latest vision of peace is but a futile idealistic dream that will not be attained in their lifetimes.
Though not the most optimistic outlook on the future of the Middle East, most Israelis, like Yossi, a city cab driver, still think, "It is better to have tried and lost than never to have tried at all."
