No ‘Forget It’ in the Mideast

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon broke off his visit to Washington by essentially saying “forget it” to diplomacy after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 15 Israelis near Tel Aviv. No matter how reprehensible such bombings are--and they are terrorism--the Bush administration cannot allow itself Sharon’s spiteful luxury. Only a sustained effort by other nations will force Israelis and Palestinians to the conference table.

Bush is at a crossroads. His administration is feuding internally, with the Defense Department and the National Security Council fighting to give Sharon a free hand and the State Department insisting on negotiations. Bush’s attempt to tiptoe between these positions has exposed him to fierce criticism from both the Arab states and backers of Israel. His policies have sometimes seemed schizophrenic.

To be sure, even this represents progress from the military green light Bush originally offered to Sharon. Since Bush met with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah two weeks ago, he has realized that the stability of moderate Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan is imperiled by continuing pictures of corpses and razed homes in the West Bank. That message was only reinforced by Jordan’s King Abdullah II in his Wednesday meeting with Bush. The Jordanian king is asking for a concrete timeline for Palestinian statehood and Arab recognition of Israel, rather than endless negotiations over “process.”

Bush needs to explore and support proposals that offer a way out of the current impasse. The president already has taken some helpful steps. He announced in his meeting with Sharon that he continued to support the creation of a Palestinian state and that the director of central intelligence, George J. Tenet, would return to the Middle East to rebuild the Palestinian security force. Bush also is upping relief assistance to the Palestinians by $30 million, to $110 million this year.

Above all, Bush, together with the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, is pushing for an international conference that would decide the outlines of a territorial compromise in exchange for Arab recognition of Israel. Today, the foreign ministers of the leading Arab states will meet to discuss preparing for such a conference.

Unfortunately, Sharon wants only a paltry conference on regional security and adamantly resists one that would speed the establishment of a Palestinian state. At the White House, Sharon declared Israel would “uproot the terrorist structure” and condemned the Palestinian Authority. Such declarations may be emotionally satisfying but they will not create a secure Israel.

Aside from the humanitarian and political reasons for pushing Yasser Arafat and Sharon away from violence, the Bush administration has longer-term strategic aims. No moderate Arab state will acquiesce to an invasion of Iraq until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has cooled off. That is a discussion for another time, however.

Bush must make it clear that Israel cannot avoid dealing with Arafat and that an international conference is unavoidable. An administration that prides itself on speaking with one voice must start to do so on the Middle East.