The tomb of Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian leader with whom President Bush refused to negotiate, lies beneath this modern mosque of stone and glass at the Muqata, the compound of the Palestinian government where Bush this week proclaimed that a "peace treaty'' between the Palestinians and Israelis is possible by year's end. Photos by Mark Silva
by Mark Silva
JERUSALEM -- The headline across the top of the Jerusalem Post this morning: "A peace treaty by the time I leave office.''
These, of course, are President Bush's words, uttered after two days of negotiations with Israeli and Palestinian leaders during his first visit to Israel as president.
Suddenly, the president who had never come to Israel during seven years in office promises to return -- perhaps repeateadly -- during his final year as president in pursuit of a treaty outlining the contours of a new, independent Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace with Israel which he has called possible to achieve by year's end.
And suddenly, a White House that arrived in Israel setting expectations as low as possible, with National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley cautioning reporters before this journey that they should not expect any big headlines, has set soaring expectations for peace in the year ahead for a beleaguered nation that will celebrate its 60th anniversay in May.
"We're not looking for headline announcements,'' Hadley had said at the White House last week. "What the president is looking for is better understanding of the challenge we face, and a commitment to dealing with that challenge.''
But they have gotten their headlines, all right: With Bush vowing repeatedly during his appearance at the headquarters of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank this week that a peace treaty should be signed before the end of this year -- and Bush maintaining that he will do everything he can to make that happen.
Skepticism abounds here, however. "We have been down this road before,'' an Israeli friend of mine said this morning.
The rock-terraced landscape of the West Bank outside of Ramallah, seen from the helicopters that carried President Bush's retinue out of Ramallah: The landscape of a new state?
Bush "wants to advance this process and he is willing to and thinks -- I think it may advance the process for him to come to the region again,'' Hadley said in Jerusalem last night. "I think you will see him back in the region at least one time and maybe more before he leaves.''
Marine One, the president's helicopter, landing in Bethlehem after Bush's meetings in Ramallah: A sighting likely to be repeated at least once, and possibly more, in the year ahead.
Despite wide-ranging skepticism here about the possibility of any such accord -- in the midst of a cauldron of rockets fired into Israel by militant Hamas leaders in Gaza and West Bank Palestinians complaining of the tyranny of Israeli checkpoints -- the Bush White House has made a simple calculation, here in the final year of Bush's term, that the determination of sitting Israeli and Palestinian leaders to forge a lasting peace poses a chance of a lifetime.
"Let's not let them get in the way of the big game here, which is, President Abbas said, a historic opportunity that may not come again to negotiate a peace between parties who are committed for peace, on the Israeli side and the Palestinian side,'' Hadley said. "This has not been the case very often in the last 20 years.
"And so the president's message is, yes, we need to address these issues that a lot of ink is spent covering, but don't miss the big game here,'' he said. "And what he wanted to do was to raise the sights of President Abbas and (Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert in saying, your focus ought to be on negotiating the peace. Only the two of you can do it, and now is the time.
"Seize this opportunity,'' Hadley said. "That was his message here.''
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Comments
GW, constantly attacked by the party of hate & surrender lead by Teddy Kennedy, Harry Reid, Murtha and Nancy Pelosi is continuing to press forward with his mid east efforts of peace and democracy.
Go George Bush, you have helped bring this region to a level of potential peace never before achieved.
And you have brought the liars and traitors of the Democratic party to the surface for all to see. America will hopefully throw the traitorous bums out of office.
Posted by: Joe | January 11, 2008 7:21 AM
Bush "wants to advance this process and he is willing to and thinks -- I think it may advance the process for him to come to the region again,'' Hadley said in Jerusalem last night. "I think you will see him back in the region at least one time and maybe more before he leaves.''
Or is it just for another excellent adventure (vacation)?
Posted by: lochnessmonster | January 11, 2008 7:38 AM
I hope that peace is achieved in the Middle East, whether it's achieved by this president or his successor. If our current president can bring peace to the Middle East, then I can only wonder why he was unable to accomplish anything else during his presidency.
Posted by: Frank Young | January 11, 2008 8:36 AM
Bush's promise of a peace treaty is just another example of his ignorance and hubris that has characterized the disastrous and tragic period of his presidency.
Posted by: Neil Adelman | January 11, 2008 8:38 AM
I think if we just gave Bush a coloring book that was examples of old peace treaties that he could color in he would be happy.
Posted by: Joe | January 11, 2008 9:07 AM
"Go George Bush, you have helped bring this region to a level of potential peace never before achieved."
Is that why the region is at a state of near constant war?
Posted by: Joe2 | January 11, 2008 9:10 AM
Amazing that for 8 years this guy has done nothing but promote a war agenda and now that he is in his last few months, he waives the olive branch of peace? Give me a break, if he really wants to do something for the world, he should resign ASAP.
Posted by: RJinchicago | January 11, 2008 9:19 AM
Hey Joe,was Repugnant Nixon the President that surrendered in Vietnam and removed the troops?
Whoops,Joe suffers from foot in mouth disease too!
Posted by: Raving Loon | January 11, 2008 9:30 AM
Dubya,
Hmmmm. 20002- Iraqi Oil will pay for the great war for freedom. Figure the "billions" lost in this equation and you get the right angle of Republican blather.
Posted by: bruce | January 11, 2008 9:37 AM
"--Can't win in Iraq; losing ground in Afghanistan. Hmmmn; maybe if I make lots of noise about peace in the middle east people won't see what an utter and useless failure I am!"
--Go home Dubya; This is so incredibly obvious and insulting that it's tragic.
Posted by: excuse me | January 11, 2008 10:07 AM
Congratulations to President Bush for his
leadership in attempting to bring peace to the Middle East, especially in Israel. Others, including political candidates in the U.S., talk talk talk but come up with no definitive plan. Bush's predecessors in office essentially focused on photo ops and promptly disappeared from follow-through. Mr. Bush appears to be committed to getting an effective solution. All people of the world should hope for his success.
Posted by: Salaam | January 11, 2008 10:17 AM
The Republican Presidential Candidates Plan for Peace in the Middle East:
War With Iran.
The Republican Party, a Culture of Death.
Posted by: JT | January 11, 2008 10:55 AM
I like to inform the President that it takes the avergae Palestinian 3 to 4 hours to do the 30 minute journey from Jerusalem to Ramallah because of the check-points. As a frequent visitor to Jerusalem I should know
Posted by: nehad ismail | January 11, 2008 12:02 PM
Screwed up the environment.... screwed up the Iraqui situation... has a disaster in the making with the economy.... never did anything about health care... No Child Left behind has cost millions and has not improved education.... now he wants everybody to hurry HIS peace process in the middle east.... why the urgency now?.... maybe he realizes the mess he's made and wants everyone to help him leave a positive spin on his term in office. He should have thought about that 8 years ago....
Posted by: mmm | January 11, 2008 12:19 PM
i am absolutely positive that President Bush, who ignored the warning signs leading to 9/11, got us in a war with the wrong country with no plan whatsoever, endangered the lives of our troops with said lack of plan, severely eroded our constitutional rights, let the insurance companies determine health care policy, the oil companies determine energy policy, let Vice President Cheney use fear and intimidation to allow the balance of power between the 3 branches of government to be tilted dangerously, and has in a short time changed America from a 'shining city on the hill' to somewhere between world bully and laughingstock....has absolutely no chance whatsoever to solve the most intracted conflict on our planet
Posted by: joebagadonuts | January 11, 2008 12:40 PM
This is just another example of Bush over-simplifying some of the world’s most complex issues. Similar to his expectations for Iraq, in which he ignored the ingrained religious animosities existing in the region, so now is he refusing to acknowledge the historical political, social and religious cleavages which have dominated the Palestine-Israel conflict. How is he going to deal with Hamas? How is he going to handle Palestine’s persistent refusal to a peace accord on account that Israel will not grant them the right of return to Jerusalem? How will he engage Israel’s radical factions formally inhabiting the West Bank?
Bush has a talent for using stern, cryptic rhetoric without providing any real solutions (eg. “We’re gonna smoke ‘em out”). While the prospect of peace in the region may be more realistic now than during Clinton’s administration, Bush does not have the political or mediatory acumen to achieve any sort of consensus between the two countries. This is simply a last-ditch effort on his part to try to salvage something positive from his presidency.
I encourage anyone to make a strong case that there have been any worse presidents than Bush. Nixon was a crook, but he did at least open up negotiations with China which facilitated the eventual fall of the Soviet Union (Reagan actually had very little to do with it). A case could be made for Hoover, who stood by and watched America fall victim to the depression and did absolutely nothing.
Bush has not done a single thing which has made America better during his presidency. Peace in the Middle East will not be achieved during his tenure.
Posted by: BCD | January 11, 2008 12:41 PM
In his last year as president, he finally visits Israel and the West Bank.
His administration stayed away and left them to fend for themselves until now as they didn't pose a "threat to our national security".
Maybe Israel should run like hell from him.
Look what happened to Afghanistan, Iraq and the possible happenings with Iran when BushCo gets their shorts in a knot.
Posted by: bobz | January 11, 2008 12:44 PM
Israel should pay restitution for Arabs who left in 1948 even though many if not most left due to Arab nations telling thme to leave temporarily until they kill all the Jews and then return to divide the spoils. Compare to the more than 850,000 Jews thrown out of Arab nations after 1948 across North Africa to the Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Jordan and Lebanon. These Jews had their property, wealth, factories, homes, etc. taken by the ARab nations and told to leave or face possible execution. These Jews didn't step aside for an conquering army to kill Arabs they way Arabs did in Israel. The totality of wealth lost by these Jews far surpassed the economic lost by Arabs in Israel, most of whom were still tenant farmers with very little accumulated wealth. What about these disenfranchised Jews who outnumber the Arabs who left Israel in 1948 for "brotherly" Arab nations? Another example of a one sided approach by Bush and the world.
Posted by: jeremy thompson | January 11, 2008 12:52 PM
I'm thrilled. Another of many "missions accomplished", all in a
ministry of truth and candor.
Posted by: JAB | January 11, 2008 12:59 PM
What's remarkable?
The metally deficient and unbalanced make such leaps all the time.
Posted by: John Chuckman, Toronto, Canada | January 11, 2008 4:01 PM
During his entire illegitimate presidency, this Mr. Bush has talked about bombimg, murdering, and killing people. Donald Rumsfeld and smarmy Cheney have even advocated using nuclear weapons against people. Bush is the very worst President the United States has ever had. He lies to and misleads the American people each and everyday
Posted by: Doug R. | January 11, 2008 6:20 PM
3 to 4 hours to do the 30 minute journey from Jerusalem to Ramallah...
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Hell, it takes that long to get into Canada these days. Must be because boy george has wrecked the dollar so bad it is worth less than the Canadian dollar.
Posted by: rncbs | January 11, 2008 6:37 PM
'Bush leaps from low to soaring...'
Looks like the 'manic' phase is kicking in....
The Four Faces of Bush??
Worse
Worster
Worstest
Worcestershire
Posted by: C.Morris | January 11, 2008 7:09 PM
We should at least give him credit for trying. It's better than not trying at all.
Having said that, Peace Treaties are signed and agreed between or among enemies not among allies or friends. Otherwise, it's meaningless.
The basic definition of a Peace Treaty can't even be met. . .
Posted by: Lou | January 11, 2008 11:11 PM