Bernd Debusmann on the Middle East peace process industry

Many confabs and resolutions, but where's the progress?

Published on January 24, 2008 By PranayGupte In Current Events

COLUMN-Bush, Rice and irrational optimism

By Bernd Debusmann
Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:00am EST

(Bernd Debusmann is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own)

WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Condoleezza Rice said it so often that it could have been the motto of last November's Annapolis conference on the Middle East: "Failure is not an option." Catchy and upbeat, the words would fit nicely on a bumper sticker.

George W. Bush opened his last year in office with his first visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories and sounded as optimistic as his secretary of state about solving one of the world's most intractable conflicts: "The peace agreement should happen, and can happen, by the end of the year."

It should, it could, it probably won't.

To read the full article, click here [reuters.com]

Note: This story was edited by JU Admin.

Comments

Leauki

on Jan 24, 2008

Wow. You even quoted the part where it says that republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited. Or did you write the article or have permission to publish it?

Zoomba

on Jan 24, 2008

I edited the article.

If you are going to post news articles from other sources, you can only post portions of the article, with a proper link back to the original story. Failure to do so violates the copyright of the author and content owner.

I expect your future articles to keep this in mind.

adnauseam

on Jan 24, 2008

The Palestinian issue is one that dates back to 1948 and, possibly, before that. It is an incredibly complex situation where there is no give or take on either side. Certainly Rice and Bush have no idea of the complexities (Bush postulating a solution soon without saying what the solution is.), and Rice hoping for a miracle. The issue will only be resolved when both sides decide on the status of Jerusalem and the distribution of land that does not see a state within a state. I have no answers for this complex issue but I do believe that a wise ombudsman, given free rein, may be able to make some progress.The situation is not entirely hopeless but I feel that little wisdom is being applied to it. The split between Hamas and Fatah just exascerbates the problem. I pray that some solution may be found but I find politic -speak from Bush and others is a case of wasted words.

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