I was going to call this post: “Bush States the Obvious,” but thought that might be a bit too cheeky. Really though, what’s new about this? He’s gone a little farther than previously and his language is a little stronger than anything he’s spoken on this topic:
There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967. The agreement must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people, just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people. These negotiations must ensure that Israel has secure, recognized, and defensible borders. And they must ensure that the state of Palestine is viable, contiguous, sovereign, and independent.
But he hasn’t said anything that hasn’t been said a million times before. He seems to be taking a somewhat tougher position regarding massive new settlements like Maaleh Adumim (though he didn’t mention it by name), which is good:
Neither party should undertake any activity that contravenes road map obligations or prejudices the final status negotiations. On the Israeli side that includes ending settlement expansion and removing unauthorized outposts.
He offered nothing at all on Jerusalem, which was disappointing and a cop out:
I know Jerusalem is a tough issue. Both sides have deeply felt political and religious concerns. I fully understand that finding a solution to this issue will be one of the most difficult challenges on the road to peace, but that is the road we have chosen to walk.
“Tough issue?” Gee, d’ya think?
On the Palestinian refugees and Right of Return he backslid from the Geneva Accords and sided totally with Olmert:
I believe we need to look to the establishment of a Palestinian state and new international mechanisms, including compensation, to resolve the refugee issue.
The man seems to have the deluded idea he can wrap this all up in the last year of his presidency though he refused to offer any timetable that would push things forward. Barring brotherhood and harmony breaking out over night, I don’t see how he can get there. But more power to him. I hope he’s right.
Look, Richard, I see your point, and I am sure that many Palestinians could get even more blistering on this. It’s not far enough, he didn’t say anything substantive about the right of return, he doesn’t mean it, Abbas is a tool and a lackey, etc.
But from the perspective of – things are shifting, the tide is turning – it is momentous that Bush even said this. Yes it has been US policy for years that Israel should get out of the West Bank – but no high official ever said it loud. The president has never said it in a news conference where the reporters had to report it even if they didn’t want to (see the NY Times article, whose first version omitted the occupation remark, only to add it in a few hours later).
So what if Bush is only doing this out of utter desperation. Didn’t Nixon have similar reasons for going to China? What about Sadat going to Israel – Sadat was a corrupt lackey himself, a torturer and a megalomaniac – a very bad man. And the whole Israel/Egypt peace treaty hasn’t been perfectly great for the Arabs. But – despite the failings of Sadat and Begin (butcher of Lebanon ’82) they did craft a peace treaty and they did quit killing each other. Or rather, they quit sending their young men to kill each other.
Isn’t that something to applaud?
I personally hope we see Bush in the dock at the Hague, answering charges of crimes against humanity. Still, I am happy that he said this controversial thing where everybody has to hear it. Ten years ago anybody who called for Israel end the occupation of the West Bank got assaulted by pro-Israel types for being “anti-Semitic” and wanting the destruction of Israel. Times have changed.
I applaud you for being so optimistic. It’s not easy to be given the miasma that is the current Middle East. I would like to be optimistic too. I really would. I’m sorry about the acid tone of this post. I really would like Bush to fool me and deliver on all this rhetoric. I’m serious about that.
I do give credit to Condi who is, I’m sure, driving this more forthright rhetoric. Though I don’t like her much, I think she’s the best of a bad lot. If anyone in that bunch can do anything positive it’s her. May I be wrong. I know it’s not much but it’s the best I can do for now.
If I see prisoners released, roadblocks removed, Palestinian militants arrested, Bush knocking a few heads together about Maaleh Adumim & other matters, then I’ll be a changed man, I promise.
Richard – I have a proposal for the fair minded Israelis and Palestinians:
Hold an unofficial vote for Israelis and Palestinians on a peace proposal that would return all of the territories east of the ’67 border to the Palestinians, including the settlements, in exchange for Palestinians (or a large proportion of them) forgoing the right of return to their former homes in west of the ’67 border. Families that lost homes in ’67 or ’48 would be given one of the nice settlement homes to either move into or sell. The settlers living there would lose ownership of their home, but if they wanted to remain and the Palestinian refugee was willing to sell they could bid on it. The Israeli government would be on the hook to compensate the settler, but could clearly do so with the peace dividend that Israel would subsequently see. If enough Israelis and Palestinians voted for such an agreement, it would not only facilitate an official one coming into being, but it would also immediately freeze any new settlement growth.
Bush’s comment that a treaty will be signed by the end of his “reign” was what stood out to me the most. I personally don’t think anything other than more vagueries will be agreed to in the next 12 months
i feel hesitant, under any circumstances, to say “George Bush” and “more power to him” in the same sentence. it gives me the shivers.
For a Xtn Fundamentalist like Bush to support the Two State solution is something unusual. Many of them think that Palestinians are Philistines or Canaanites, and ought to just disappear, like American Indians or Australian Abos, not end up running their own affairs like Catholic Irish.
Maybe he’s finally given up on the Rapture solving his problems.
Zhu Bajie