Sitting Ducks

The Group of Eight meeting last weekend was a mess. The gathering of world leaders has become an excuse for anti-globalization activists to complain, which is fine, and for anarchists to riot, which is not. But it’s unclear what exactly the protesters had to protest about. The meeting itself was almost devoid of content. The world leaders came out against poverty, disease and global warming but avoided committing themselves to any serious measures. Actually, that’s not quite right. It was worse than that.

One specific proposal did emerge. Pressured by its European allies, the U.S. delegation went along with a call for “third-party monitoring” in the Middle East. The idea is that international monitors would report without bias on the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians and help halt the violence. To whom they would report is unclear.

The mechanics are the least of the proposal’s problems. For a start, there is no peace to monitor, only an intermittent war zone, the worst possible place for noncombatant “peacekeepers.” The monitors would be sitting ducks for Palestinian sharpshooters or Israeli settlement extremists. It’s also the case that international monitors from Scandinavia, Italy and Turkey are already stationed in Hebron and have been utterly ineffectual.

That hasn’t stopped Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from pushing for monitors. The Palestinian Authority has called the idea a “positive step,” apparently in the belief that internationalizing the conflict could put more pressure on Israel to come to favorable terms. Allowing Arafat to hide behind monitors would not encourage peace, which can come only from direct negotiations.

Until now, the Bush administration has resisted putting in monitors, but Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who could point to pressure from our allies, seized his chance at the G-8 meeting to revive the idea. President Bush has sensibly tried to stay out of a conflict that does not seem susceptible to mediation, at least right now. But Powell and his department’s Near East affairs bureau are working to change that.

Bush should hang tough. The administration should not pursue the G-8 appeal. If Bush can promise zero on global climate change, surely he can do the same on the Mideast monitor issue.