Bush failed to push peace process on Israel, Palestinians

[OhioChick]

Article published Wednesday, April 9, 2008

AS George W. Bush's presidency draws to an end in terms of any meaningful actions that can be taken in foreign affairs from now until January, it is useful to review U.S. relations with Israel, one of America's most important allies, during his two terms. My own analysis is that a potentially very useful period was wasted for both countries, comparing what could have been achieved with what was not.

In general, the two Bush terms were a period when America took the most uncritical attitude toward Israel that it has taken during any presidency since Israel's independence.

The United States pressed Israel for nothing. Israel's most recent "concession" to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - agreement to remove only 50 of the some 580 barriers to Palestinian movement in the West Bank - was a gesture of contempt, not action that could move the Middle East peace process forward.

The atmosphere of confidence and closeness that existed during the Bush years could have served as a crucial element in creating real progress toward a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Instead, with the end of the Clinton presidency, the latter part of which included very active involvement by President Bill Clinton himself in trying to move the two parties toward an agreement, the Middle East peace process dropped like a stone.

The obvious point is that progress was precluded by the Iraq war, movement toward which began to build visibly in 2002 although it had its genesis among Bush administration neo-conservatives in 2001.

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080409/COLUMNIST43/804090325