Meeting the American dove
By
Salama A Salama
Israel has neither accepted the roadmap, nor turned it down. What is most important is for negotiations to start between the Palestinians and Israelis. Both sides must begin implementing the roadmap without getting involved in a long debate over whether or not it is accepted.
That, at least, was how US Secretary of State Colin Powell summarised the situation. I was one of three Egyptian journalists with whom Powell met in Cairo after his talks with Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem and Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in Jericho. Powell's carefully planned itinerary was an obvious attempt by George W Bush's administration to underline its commitment to a two- state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Powell spoke at length about Bush's commitment to the roadmap and the two- state solution, about Israeli security and how Abu Mazen and Mohamed Dahlan must do their utmost to halt terrorist attacks. They are expected to suppress the activities of opposition Palestinian factions such as Hamas and Jihad in order that Israel might reciprocate and carry out the steps required to ease their siege of the Palestinians.
Powell delivered his statements knowing full well that within hours of his departure Tel Aviv would reimpose its clampdown on the Gaza Strip and close the crossing points it had reopened to show its goodwill to Powell. And so it was. The minute he left Israel embarked on its favourite pastime -- demolishing houses, bulldozing agricultural land and killing Palestinians.
Powell has great faith in the abilities of his president. When it was suggested that Sharon will resort to his usual tactics, obstructing the implementation of the roadmap's required steps until US presidential elections are just around the corner, thus effectively tying Washington's hands, Powell insisted that the Palestinian issue was an irrelevancy as far as the presidential race is concerned. The president, he said, had asked him to travel to the region and revive the peace process knowing full well the time frame and conditions that prevail.
Powell is said to have flown from the camp of the doves to that of the hawks. Yet he acts as if he were a still a dove, though one perfectly happy to overlook Israel's statements that it will not change its settlement policy.
Our meeting with Powell was a final chance before he left for Amman to ask the secretary of state exactly what Washington expects from the Arabs. What is the reasoning behind Bush's new "vision" for a US-Middle East Free Trade Zone (FTZ), the announcement of which was preceded by Powell's proclamation, a few months ago, about a US-Middle East Partnership Initiative? Does this constitute a completely new project for the Middle East? Have there already been discussions about this between Washington and Arab capitals, or has the initiative been spawned by the war on Iraq?
The plans, Powell said, are intrinsic to achieving peace in the Middle East. With the liberation of Iraq, a new Palestinian leadership and the creation of a Palestinian state existing side by side with Israel, conditions will be ideal to promote wealth and prosperity in the region, though this requires changing economic and education systems and the reform of regimes.
And according to an optimistic Powell, such changes will be based on the will of the Arab people. They will not be imposed from outside.
There were many other questions hanging in the air, questions about Iraq and Syria, about the fate of the UN and bilateral relations. But the secretary of state, who in the blink of a diplomatic eye can transform himself from dove to hawk and then back again to dove, was on his way to Jordan and Saudi Arabia, looking for new markets in which to sell the roadmap.
