I believe there’s going to be a signed peace treaty [between the Israelis and Palestinians] by the time I leave office . . . I’m on a timetable . . . I’ve got 12 months.
(President George W. Bush, January 11, 2008)
Just weeks ago, President Bush went to Iraq hoping to be serenaded with gracious farewells from the Iraqis he claims he liberated. Instead, he had shoes thrown at him in a gesture of contempt usually reserved for the likes of Saddam Hussein.
Now, just when he probably thought his whimpering exit from the presidency could not get any more humiliating, the Israelis have made a mockery of his 2008 New Year’s resolution for peace in the Middle East by launching an “all-out war” against the Palestinians.
I appreciate how tempting it is these days to revel in every indignity Bush suffers. But I hope I demonstrated my objectivity in this respect by condemning the Iraqi who hurled his shoes at Bush and complimenting Bush for the agility he showed by ducking to avoid getting hit.
Nevertheless, as tragic as this latest outbreak of hostilities is between the Israelis and Palestinians (with a reported 370 Palestinians killed so far), the main point of this commentary pertains to how it reflects on Bush. Specifically, here’s what I wrote back in January when he made his fatuous “peace in [his] time” resolution:
It is generally accepted that US presidential candidates make promises they know they cannot keep. But it smacks of unconscionable and irresponsible pandering for a US president to do so.
[President Bush’s “peace in [his] time” pipe dream, The iPINIONS Journal, January 11, 2008]
Of course when I criticized Bush back then for his Chamberlainian declaration, I had no idea that Israel would expose his pandering in such explosive fashion – as it did four days ago. But the fact is that anyone remotely familiar with the geo-political tensions in the Middle East, and with the patent inability of US presidents to affect them, knew full well that the chances of Bush pulling off an eleventh-hour peace treaty were zero to none.
Frankly, I knew it was only a matter of time before the Israelis and Palestinians reignited their warfare. And it hardly matters who or what triggered this latest episode – especially since the root cause of this perennial conflict dates back to Biblical times, and each side claims divine provenance for its actions.
For the record, however, Israel’s massive air strikes were clearly provoked by the barrage of rockets Hamas has been launching from the Gaza Strip into its civilian neighborhoods over the past three weeks. Yet there’s no denying that Israel was just looking for an excuse not only to redeem its notorious failure in June 2006 to rescue an Israeli soldier who remains in Hamas’ captivity, but also to avenge the feckless performance of its vaunted military a couple months later during its war against Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, any ceasefire will merely give both sides time to regroup and rearm to fight another day. Because this cycle of violence is such that not even the Almighty God could ever reconcile Hamas’ jihad to drive the Israelis from the Middle East with Israel’s categorical (and existential) imperative to defend itself.
Related Articles:
Iraqi throws shoes at Bush
President Bush’s “peace in [his] time” pipe dream
Return of Israelis and Palestinians to roadmap to peace
Hezbollah terrorist humble Israeli military
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