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Kowtowing to Israel, again Jordan Times, 3/28/03 JORDAN HAS been warning for months that Israel would take advantage of a war in Iraq to impose its “changes” to the roadmap for Mideast peace already endorsed by the international community. And so it is happening. As the war rages in Iraq and policy makers in Washington are still wondering why Arabs `hate' them, it is of paramount importance that the international community be reminded that the core problem in the Middle East is the Israeli occupation of Palestine. As His Majesty King Abdullah has repeatedly been saying, democracy, prosperity and stability will never come to this region unless the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is solved. The roadmap drafted by the Quartet — the US, UN, EU and Russia — was the last hope to restore stability to the Middle East. Not only Washington pressured the Quartet into delaying the document's publication once it was endorsed, on Dec. 20, but it is now bending to Israeli requests to amend it. Three months ago, the US said it would have waited until after the Jan. 28 elections in Israel to unveil the roadmap. Then, it said it would have waited until after the formation of a new Israeli government. Then, Washington was too busy preparing for its war on Iraq to dedicate enough attention to a constructive initiative that would have restored hope to this area. Right before the launch of the US-British attack against Iraq, Washington said the roadmap would be published once the Palestinians appointed a prime minister. Now that a Palestinian prime minister is there, the US says it wants to wait until after the Palestinians have formed and endorsed a new government. All these delays point to two things: US policy makers' utter lack of understanding of what this region really needs, and Israel's firm control on America's Middle Eastern policy. For the main reason behind the delay in the publication of the roadmap is Israel's determination to amend it, pre-emptying the chances for a meaningful peace process and a fair and equitable solution to the conflict. When US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke of the roadmap in their Camp David summit yesterday, their aim was not to revive the Arab-Israeli peace process, but rather to accommodate Israel's requests, thus sinking the last hopes for another, more credible peace process. After the 1991 Gulf War, the US promised a serious peace process. Israel accepted, because it knew that both the Madrid and Oslo processes were doomed since their inception. Israeli leaders knew the very foundations of that diplomatic process would have granted them the upper hand. It is happening all over again. Israel is modifying in its favour the foundation of a potentially new peace process — the roadmap — before the process is even launched. And the US, Great Britain, and the international community are letting it.
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