No Progress Can Be Made In Peace With Out Addressing Palestine
Condoleezza Rice is coming home on Monday. The American administration has decided that she can broker an agreement from Washington DC. That remains to be seen.
I, on the other hand, feel that she will never be able to broker an agreement on the Lebanese/Israeli issue without addressing the issues on Palestine in tandem. By not addressing this important Middle Eastern concern, she simply does not have leverage or political capital in that region to force Israel and Hezbollah to the table.
Palestine/Israeli relations are a very hot topic with countries in the Middle East and many Muslims have sympathies that run deep in regard to Israeli treatment of the PLO and Hamas leadership. By the US not addressing these specifically and by not strongly encouraging the Israelis to get back to the bargaining table with Palestine officials, Condeleezza is inflaming the already difficult situation further.
Based on the Iraqi situation and strong ties to Israel, the US is just not considered an objective party that could effectively broker a settlement that the greater Middle East would consider fair to Hezbollah. France or the UN needs to take pro-active leadership in this area at this point. Negotiations may be more successful with their intervention. A US brokered plan will never be taken seriously and will only cause additional polarization and hardening of political positions in the Middle East based on our current interests in Iraq and close relationship with Israel.
I, on the other hand, feel that she will never be able to broker an agreement on the Lebanese/Israeli issue without addressing the issues on Palestine in tandem. By not addressing this important Middle Eastern concern, she simply does not have leverage or political capital in that region to force Israel and Hezbollah to the table.
Palestine/Israeli relations are a very hot topic with countries in the Middle East and many Muslims have sympathies that run deep in regard to Israeli treatment of the PLO and Hamas leadership. By the US not addressing these specifically and by not strongly encouraging the Israelis to get back to the bargaining table with Palestine officials, Condeleezza is inflaming the already difficult situation further.
Based on the Iraqi situation and strong ties to Israel, the US is just not considered an objective party that could effectively broker a settlement that the greater Middle East would consider fair to Hezbollah. France or the UN needs to take pro-active leadership in this area at this point. Negotiations may be more successful with their intervention. A US brokered plan will never be taken seriously and will only cause additional polarization and hardening of political positions in the Middle East based on our current interests in Iraq and close relationship with Israel.
