| Why Do They Bother? |
19 May 2003
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Sharon Meets with Abbas, No Change
The US-UK roadmap to peace has hit a snag right off the bat. With the appointment of a new Palestinian prime minister, Abu Mazen, the idea was that the Israelis would now be negotiating with a different leadership. However, Mr. Ariel Sharon is still the prime minister of Israel, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad still want to fight. The recent meeting between the two prime ministers was an exercise in futility doomed to go nowhere. They really ought to give up for a few years.
No sooner was the meeting set than suicide bombers began terrorizing Israelis into abandoning the talks. To his credit, Mr. Sharon did not cave in, and he met with this opposite number. However, he has said there can be no movement at his end until the terror stops, and that means a crackdown on the extremists. Meanwhile, Mr. Mazen, a/k/a/ Abu Abbas, has said that there can be no move against the extremists without the Israelis giving him something beforehand.
The idea of a Middle East peace is flawed, and this impasse shows why. Neither side has leadership that can deliver what it promises, and in the case of the Palestinians, perhaps no one can. Moreover, neither side is prepared to swallow its pride and go first. Politically, neither PM can give in to the other; the extremes in both camps would act to prevent it.
In this situation, peace requires huge sacrifices. The Palestinians will have to give up the right of return. The Israelis will have to give up part of Jerusalem. Not even the most imaginative of commentators can envision such a bargain, let alone a unilateral move along such lines.
And so, the game has not changed, only the players on one team. The best that can arise at this stage is a reduction in the body count.