Bush powerless when it comes to "imposing peace" in the Middle East.
My cynicism ahead of the Annapolis conference will be well known to anybody who regularly reads here. However, to say that Bush is falling over himself to lower expectations ahead of this particular conference - the first the US has had since Clinton left the White House - would be an understatement:
President Bush today welcomed key participants in the Middle East conference that is getting under way in Annapolis, Md., with an acknowledgment that the United States cannot force peace on the region.Yeah, 'cos I find it almost impossible to imagine the United States forcing their world view down anyone else's throats. And it would be unthinkable for the US to pressure their ally to give up settlements which are illegal under international law or even to conform to UN resolution 242 which demands that Israel returns to the pre-1967 borders.
“The United States cannot impose our vision, but we can help facilitate,” the president said in the Oval Office before meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.
No, suddenly the most powerful country in the world is utterly impotent and unable to exert any pressure at all on this situation.
And, as far as the New York Times are concerned, Olmert is not even pretending that he thinks anything will come out of this:
A couple hours earlier, President Bush welcomed the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, to the Oval Office. While Mr. Bush expressed the hope that the Annapolis session would bear fruit, Mr. Olmert seemed less optimistic.So the Israelis have arrived and started privately briefing that this conference will produce nothing.
“Thanks for coming to the Annapolis Conference,” Mr. Bush told the prime minister before their private meeting. “I’m looking forward to continuing our serious dialogue with you and the president of the Palestinian Authority to see whether or nor peace is possible. I’m optimistic, I know you’re optimistic, and I want to thank you for your courage and your friendship.”
But Mr. Olmert did not grasp the opportunity to confirm the optimism that President Bush said he was sure the prime minister was feeling, although he did said he was “delighted” to be in the Oval Office.
“This time it’s different,” Mr. Olmert said, “because we are going to have lots of participants in what I hope will launch a serious process of negotiations between us and the Palestinians. This will be a bilateral process, but international support is very important for us.”
The prime minister went on to say that he hoped the Annapolis conference would produce “something that will be very good and create a great hope for our peoples.”
The president and prime minister seemed comfortable with each other on a personal level, but Mr. Olmert’s somewhat elliptical remarks may have reflected a feeling among Israeli officials, voiced privately this morning, that the Annapolis session is unlikely to produce a major, lasting breakthrough.
And Bush is making it very clear that "the Decider" is suddenly impotent to do anything at all about Israeli intransigence.
They promised that this wouldn't simply be a photo-op, but all the signs are that Annapolis is set to be just that... And, apparently, there's nothing Bush can do about it.
Nor is there going to be no price to pay for this, as even the New York Times acknowledges:
The stakes for Mr. Abbas are considerable. If he should leave Annapolis in what appears to be a weakened posture, the Islamic militant group Hamas would probably try to fill the power vacuum, as a spokesman for the group signaled on Sunday.Abbas is supposed to be their man, and yet they are - if first impressions count for anything - going to hang him out to dry and send him back home with nothing.
This is how they encourage the "moderates"?
I expected at least a token gesture at an attempt to make peace, but Olmert appears unwilling to give even that, and Bush is making it very clear that he is powerless to "impose our vision".
If only he had been powerless to impose his vision on Iraq. How many more innocent Iraqis and Americans would be alive today had that been the case?
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