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Middle East Muddling
Dennis Sandole, ICAR Professor
Posted: 09/02/07

[Published, International Herald Tribune, August 31, 2007] Roger Cohen's column, "A November deadline for Mideast peace" (Views, Aug. 30), rightly welcomes the return of the United States to Middle East diplomacy, but with reservation. Cohen points out that "the United States must deliver" at an anticipated peace conference in America in November "or its conference will be an empty farce that feeds the sophisticated Iranian propaganda machine. Delivering means a Saudi presence."

But, with the exclusion of Hamas from the process, no peace agreement has much chance of being worked out, which means that only modest aims might be realized, such as producing some vision of what a two-state solution might look like. This sounds too much like "business as usual," with the pivotal Israeli-Palestinian conflict receiving short-shrift by the international community and, by default, continuing to drive other conflicts, including global terrorism.

We need more direction. For example, U.S. envoys could encourage the Saudis to mediate (again) a rapprochement between Hamas and Fatah. U.S. envoys could then shuttle between Palestinians and Israelis, and consult the American Jewish community and the Israeli leadership to convince the former to convince the latter that, should the present window of opportunity close, the lingering status of Israel as a gated, guarded, occupying community in the heart of the Arab world will not change.

Dennis J.D. Sandole,
Arlington, Virginia

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ICAR News Network Middle East Muddling Dennis Sandole, ICAR Professor Posted: 09/02/07 [Published, International Herald Tribune, August 31, 2007] Roger Cohen's column, "A November deadline for Mideast peace" (Views, Aug. 30), rightly welcomes the return of the United States to Middle East diplomacy, but with reservation. Cohen points out that "the United States must deliver" at an anticipated peace conference in America in November "or its conference will be an empty farce that feeds the sophisticated Iranian propaganda machine. Delivering means a Saudi presence." But, with the exclusion of Hamas from the process, no peace agreement has much chance of being worked out, which means that only modest aims might be realized, such as producing some vision of what a two-state solution might look like. This sounds too much like "business as usual," with the pivotal Israeli-Palestinian conflict receiving short-shrift by the international community and, by default, continuing to drive other conflicts, including global terrorism. We need more direction. For example, U.S. envoys could encourage the Saudis to mediate (again) a rapprochement between Hamas and Fatah. U.S. envoys could then shuttle between Palestinians and Israelis, and consult the American Jewish community and the Israeli leadership to convince the former to convince the latter that, should the present window of opportunity close, the lingering status of Israel as a gated, guarded, occupying community in the heart of the Arab world will not change. Dennis J.D. Sandole, Arlington, Virginia News Network Homepage / Armenia / 2008 Elections / Afghanistan / Diplomacy/ Egypt / Environment / Global Peace Index / Health / Immigration / Iraq / Iran / Islam / Kosovo / Nuclear Proliferation / Pakistan / Palestine-Israel / Russia / Somalia / South America / Turkey /		About ICAR Student Information Prospective Students Faculty and Staff Alumni Career Services Academic Programs Library ICAR In The News Events Technology Resources ICAR Publications Point Of View Center Center for World Religions, Diplomacy & Conflict Resolution