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Bush
should visit longer,
Gulf
News
24-05-2003
The United States involvement is so crucial to
the future of the Middle East, that it is vital that President George W.
Bush should visit the region. He should come to listen to the region's
leaders on their home ground, and to observe what is happening. Looking
at the Middle East from the White House will give a totally different
impression from seeing the region itself.
Bush is considering a three-way meeting with the Israeli
and Palestinian leaders in Egypt, which seems to be tacked on to the end
of a trip to Russia for the G-8 summit in early June, although the
Americans are saying that this Israeli-Palestinian meeting depends on
seeing more progress in the roadmap talks.
The Middle East deserves more than a quick visit that is an
after-thought. It requires far more careful attention, and it is a
region where quick decisions can lead to confusion, failure, and yet
more violence and loss of life. American support for Israel has been one
of the fundamental causes of continuing Israeli violence, leading to the
persistent failure of peace talks. If the American President can take
this on board, the Middle East would be transformed.
In addition, America has huge new responsibilities to the
people of Iraq. These are not possible to guide or deliver from
Washington, and Bush should try to listen to as many Iraqis as he can so
that he is able to interpret what the American officials running Iraq
tell him. Bush should come to the Middle East, and he should meet
the region's leaders and politicians, but he should do so for longer
than a quick visit, and the trip should include Iraq, and he should
attend one of the assemblies of Iraqi leaders looking at their own
country's future.
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| Earth, a
planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli
apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers
(Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli
apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers
in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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