Credibility counts

The credibility of the Bush administration's Middle East policy hangs on the outcome of the two summits in which the US president has participated over the last two days, the first in Sharm El-Sheikh, the second in Aqaba.

The success or failure of these summits will reveal the extent of the involvement the US administration is prepared to devote to the pursuit of peace and stability in a region that is central to US interests.

Mr Bush's visit to the Middle East comes at the half- way point of his presidency and has been widely trailed in the US and elsewhere as a much awaited sign that Washington is finally ready to engage fully in attempts to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict in such a way as to allow for the establishment of a Palestinian state next to the state of Israel. Coming in the wake of the US occupation of Iraq, and America's subsequent failure to maintain the stability it had promised, the summits gain even greater significance.

The issuing of communiqués that voice commitment to making Arab-Israeli peace a reality, and that promote stability and democracy in Iraq, is clearly no substitute for action. Communiqués have been issued before, at regular intervals. Sadly, they have yet to be followed by the necessary actions.

If the US president is losing sleep over anything it should be over furnishing the necessary guarantees that the roadmap will not end up being implemented by the Palestinians while Israel, sooner or later, wriggles out of its own obligations.

There must also be credible guarantees that the current state of chaos and uncertainty that has paralysed Iraq since its occupation by the Americans will not continue.

Implementation is essential. In its absence the Bush visit is likely to do more harm than good to the reputation of US policy in the Middle East.

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 5 -11 June 2003 (Issue No. 641)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/641/ed.htm