By Robert E. Hunter - The Daily Star - Monday, September 18, 2006
The Arab-Israeli conflict has bedeviled every American president for more than a half-century. President George W. Bush now has an opportunity to bring it to an end. This is in the interests of Israel, the Palestinians, and everyone in the Middle East who prefers peace to war. From the perspective of the United States, it has become a strategic imperative.
"Life isn`t fair," President John F. Kennedy said. Bush might say the same: The job now falls to him to do all in the power of the US to resolve one of the modern age`s most emotional and long-standing conflicts.
It was not always thus. After President Anwar Sadat took Egypt out of the Arab-Israeli conflict, this key Cold War flashpoint was reduced to a troubling nuisance for American administrations. Presidents acted as peacemakers from time to time, but they were not compelled to do so by US strategic requirements.
Then came 9/11 and the US invasion of Iraq. Like it or not, since then America has found that it again has a strategic need to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. The demands placed on the US were underscored by the recent fighting in Lebanon - Israel`s first failure in war to achieve its political objectives, compounded by what seemed worldwide to be the inexplicable unwillingness of America to call a timely halt to the combat.
From the American perspective, three things are clear: First, whatever Israel does with American money, weapons and backing is chalked up to the US account throughout the Middle East. Second, US standing among Arabs and Muslims - friend and foe alike - took a further drubbing with the recent war in Lebanon. And third, America`s overall position in the region and its strategic interests - now beset from the Mediterranean Sea to the Hindu Kush - would be immensely improved if Israel and Palestine could achieve peace as two sovereign, secure and independent states.
To make peace, America needs to demonstrate to all that it will not compromise Israel`s security and survival. Arab states, for their part, must force a sea change in attitudes toward a peace that secures basic Palestinian rights.
