Roadmap to Peace Between Israelis and Palestinians Being Led by Three Blind Men

Yesterday, President Bush hosted the Mideast Peace Conference in Annapolis, Maryland. I watched in bemusement as the three principals gave opening remarks on the Israeli and Palestinian roadmap to peace. Because anyone could see, this was a classic case of the blind leading the blind.

Three blind men on the roadmap

Bush is a bona fide lame duck. He’s no longer relevant in domestic politics. Convening this conference is little more than a desperate ploy. He wants to flex his foreign-policy muscles and burnish his legacy:

I don’t think it’s a risk to try for peace. … I think that’s an obligation. 

(NBC News, November 27, 2007)

Of course, if it were indeed an obligation, he would not have waited until the eleventh hour of his presidency to get to it.

Meanwhile, in-fighting seems bound to cause Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s fragile coalition government to fall. But investigations into allegations of corruption against him might force Olmert to resign even before that.

And then there’s Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He’s trying to navigate peace with Israel while fighting a civil war with Hamas.

Major potholes on the roadmap

Even at the peak of their powers, Bush, Olmert, and Abbas would’ve been unable to navigate the potholes on their roadmap to peace. The historical grievances between Israelis and Palestinians are too intractable. 

Hence my bemusement: These three blind men audaciously promise peace within a year. But this mother of all peace agreements has eluded far more accomplished and influential leaders for over 60 years.

In addition to the perennial potholes that hobbled previous efforts, some looming pitfalls are all too foreseeable. For example, 

1. The simmering civil war between Hamas  and Fatah finally reaching its boiling point;
2. Israel becoming engulfed in tit-for-tat attacks with Palestinian terrorists and stressed by nuclear tensions with Iran; and 
3. Olmert getting assassinated (a grim fate, like Rabin’s, that seems to await any Israeli prime minister who dares to make any concession for peace).

And all of that only hints at what informs my bemusement. After all, everyone knows the “two-state solution” offers the only hope for peace.

But – no matter the American president, Jewish prime minister, or Palestinian leader – implementing any solution shall remain as impossible as cutting the Gordian knot.