Opinions | Columnists
Mideast crisis demands a solution
After eight years of misguided policy by the Bush administration in the Middle East, the time is overdue for an enlightened strategy to tackle the region's woes.
- By Alon Ben-Meir, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 23:21 November 14, 2008
After eight years of misguided policy by the Bush administration in the Middle East, the time is overdue for an enlightened strategy to tackle the region's woes. This must include an approach that will bring hope to a region shattered by violence, consumed by conflict and division, and filled with disdain toward the United States.
Although the massive economic crisis facing America is, and should be, President-elect Barack Obama's first priority, he must not hesitate to confront the simmering conflicts in the Middle East that cannot be relegated to the back burner without severely undermining the strategic interest and security of the United States.
Obama faces an incredible challenge to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan honorably, to restore hope to the Palestinian people, and to engage Iran and Syria constructively while fostering regional economic development.
America's new strategy in the Middle East must be comprehensive and integrated, utilising all of America's diplomatic instruments and power while working with allies. While the United States must take the lead, it must also commit itself to a strategy of multilateralism working with other powers to orchestrate solutions to some of the most intractable conflicts that America alone simply cannot solve.
The new American strategy in the Middle East must be developed with an eye on establishing comprehensive regional security in which the majority of, if not all, the states in the area will have a stake in maintaining peace.
Since the 1992 Madrid peace conference, the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict has been hashed and rehashed ad nauseam and nothing fundamentally new can be said about the ultimate solution that will be framed. A Palestinian state established over Gaza and most of the West Bank with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side-by-side with the state of Israel - while finding a just solution to the Palestinian refugees - remains the only viable solution. And the return of the Golan Heights to Syria is sine qua non to resolving the Israeli-Syrian conflict.
The Obama administration must embrace the Arab Peace Initiative, initially adopted by the Arab League in March of 2002. Although the road map has advanced the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, embracing the initiative remains critical for two reasons: because it represents the collective Arab will which can rein in Arab extremists, and because only a comprehensive peace with all 22 Arab states offers Israel the security it has sought since its inception.
The United States must play an active and direct role between Israelis and Palestinians by appointing a presidential envoy with a wide mandate who must stay in the region for as long as it takes until an agreement is forged.
Throughout his two terms, President Bush sent over a dozen special envoys to the Middle East, yet none stayed long enough to allow for the consistency and continuity needed to keep both sides fully engaged. The new permanent envoy must be acutely perceptive of the histories of both people and have a keen understanding of the emotional, psychological and religious complexity of the conflict.
This is particularly important as both sides suffer from serious psychological hang-ups about each other that ultimately prejudice their negotiating stance. Moreover, because of the endemic internal division and the existence of rejectionist groups in both camps, the Israeli and Palestinian governments need American cover to make the necessary concessions.
Peacekeeping force
The Obama administration must insist to Israel that ending the occupation of the West Bank also means an end to all colonist activity. While Obama has reiterated America's loyalty to Israel as its closest ally in the Middle East, he must also show that he can be an honest broker when it comes to creating a Palestinian state. It is also of paramount importance that other Arab states in the region with good relations with Israel and the US, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Morocco, are engaged at the outset in all peace efforts. In addition, these states should contribute to the creation of a peacekeeping force to be stationed in Gaza and the West Bank.
Contrary to the Bush administration's policy that has attempted to isolate Syria as it sought a regime change, the Obama administration must engage Syria directly and in doing so dramatically change the political dynamics in the region. Syria is the lynchpin to weakening Hezbollah and Hamas and marginalising Iran's influence in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. An accord between Israel and Syria will also pave the way to a peace agreement with Lebanon, once Israel withdraws from Sheba'a Farms.
Finally, any Arab-Israeli peace, however comprehensive, may not endure unless it is accompanied with an economic and humanitarian development programme that will also foster political and human rights reforms.
Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Centre for Global Affairs at NYU.
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