The Hindu : Roadblocks to peace

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 20, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Roadblocks to peace

A ONE-WAY STREET is no dependable road to peace. This is a reality that the U.S. and the other members of the quartet, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, must acknowledge and act on if they want to see any progress on the road map for peace in the Middle East that they have jointly prepared. Against the several steps that the Palestinians have taken in the past few months, including the effective sidelining of Yasser Arafat, Israel under its hawkish Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has done next to nothing. And when it did appear as if there was room for optimism over the Middle East and there could be some initial movement on the charted road, there is again a setback. A landmark meeting between the Prime Ministers of Israel and Palestine was expected to signal a readiness to break out of the bitterness of the past. Saturday's meeting served to bring on stage a new leader on the Palestinian side but nothing more. Two suicide bombings in Jerusalem were the answer from the Palestinian hardliners to the evolving peace effort. They gave a handle to the Israeli Prime Minister to derail the process before it has even begun in earnest.

Disaster is an inevitable result every time bitter ideological enemies make common cause. For the two hardliners on either side — the Jewish orthodoxy that refuses to accept a Palestinian state and the militant groups like the Hamas which will not recognise the existence of Israel and have resorted to the devastating campaign of suicide bombings — the end result is a welcome halt to implementing a road map that they both reject out of hand. Mr. Sharon has promptly called off a visit to Washington where he would have come under renewed pressure to match the Palestinian side. A second meeting between him and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas or Abu Mazen, after his return was expected to move the road map to the second phase. The bombings, within hours of the conclusion of the meeting, have provided justification for a hardening of Israeli policy. Now, until Mr. Abbas is deemed by Israel to be taking strong enough steps to combat terrorism, Mr. Sharon will not embrace the road map. Refusing to acknowledge the stupendous hurdles faced by Mr. Abbas in attempting to rein in the terrorists, Israeli spokesmen have poured scorn on the road map. Mr. Sharon's spokesman has said that Israel "is not facing the map right now but only the trail of blood and terror". Terrorism was the core of the demands made on Mr. Abbas. There was no promise from the Israeli side to the Palestinian demand for genuine reciprocity: that Mr. Sharon commit himself to the road map, end assassination of Palestinian militants and take measures to ease the Israeli stranglehold on Palestinian territory.

The most obvious strategy for the Israeli Prime Minister to pursue is prevarication, with the ultimate objective of sabotaging the road map. Already, the road map's timetable is not being met, with phase one due to end by the end of this month and phase two set to begin in June. By the time phase three is reached (envisaged for 2005), there should be a Palestinian state. Knowing the outcome, the Israeli right led ably by Mr. Sharon seems to be daring the Bush administration to enforce its demands, a tactic that has worked for the Prime Minister over the last two years when the U.S. kept out of the conflict and tilted the scales against the Palestinians. If the road map is not to become a map to nowhere, the U.S. must rise above domestic political considerations and force Israel to comply — and work the plan which is widely regarded as the last chance for enduring peace in the blighted region.

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