Why Rice & Bush are pushing conference
Reader comment on item: Annapolis Blues

Submitted by Arthur Cohn (United States), Oct 24, 2007 at 22:40

Dr. Pipes:

You write:
"Why, after nearly seven years of staying aloof from Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, has the Bush administration now succumbed to the bug? Some possible factors.

• Iranian threat: Rice sees an opportunity for U.S. diplomacy in a Middle East re-alignment resulting from Iranian aggression, both actual (Hizbullah, Hamas) and future (nuclear weapons).
• Inaction worse: If nothing is done, Kadima's already dismal standing in the polls will continue to fall and Fatah's tenuous hold over the West Bank will erode. The prospect of Likud and Hamas succeeding Olmert and Abbas pleases the Bush administration no more than it does those two men.
• Legacy: Zbigniew Brzezinski has articulated the foreign policy establishment's hopes for Annapolis and its dim view of Rice: "She realizes that her legacy right now is really very poor. If she can pull this off, she will be seen as a real historical figure."
• Civil rights: Rice believes in a bizarre analogy between West Bank Palestinians and southern Blacks.
• Messianism: Both George W. Bush and Rice seem to view themselves as destined to resolve Arab-Israeli hostilities. One interlocutor recounts that "she believes this is the time for the Israeli and Palestinian conflict to end."

You have omitted ,what is clear to me is the the most likely reason. That is:

Because Bush promised this action to Crown Prince Abdullah (now King) of S. Arabia in Crawford TX as they met in late April, 2002. Read Elsa Walsh's article "The Prince" published in "the New Yorker" on March 24, 2003 While this article is mainly about (then) Ambassador Prince Bandor, there is long section on Abdullah's trip to Texas. In that section, it is clear to me that Bush made the promise to found the Palestinian State. Somewhat ambiguous is whether he did it solely for reasons of state, or because he felt sorry when Abdullah showed him pictures of Palestinian victims of IDF reprisals, or because of the Bush family's economic ties to the Saudi Al Aziz family.

In Sept. 2002 Bush made his famous speech promising to found the Palestinian State; But only on conditions that include that the Palestinians truly stop terrorism. The Roadmap included these conditions. Now, Rice has reneged on insisting on these conditions She is insisting on a final negotiated formation of the Palestinian Arab State without any of the preconditions required of the Palestinians . More so, the Palestinians have not performed on any of the condition that they signed to from Oslo on.

If and when Annapolis occurs, the Palestinians will renege on all agreements without any American retribution, but Israel will be held to all of its concessions by America, and of course Europe.

Arthur Cohn

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