Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
Everyone knows pretty well what a peace settlement would look like. … But how to get there? The latest, still rather vague, plan is for a “declaration of principles” to be agreed upon at a conference in America in November or December. …The question is how detailed these principles should be.
To take that historic step, the Palestinian leader, Mr Abbas, would need the protection of nearby Arabs in the region: Egypt, Jordan and particularly the Saudis, who have emerged as the region’s busiest power-broker. For his part, Mr Olmert’s admission that a two-state map would be based broadly on the 1967 one would lose him a chunk of his fragile coalition and maybe an election if one were forced. …
Hamas and its Syrian and Iranian backers may howl treason and plot a return to suicide-bombs. Syria, however, should if possible be drawn into the talks. Efforts should be kept up to persuade Hamas to accept a two-state deal and to stop rockets being fired from Gaza into Israeli towns. As for Israel, suffocating Gaza economically, as the Israelis seem bent on doing, is both cruel and unlikely to help the cause of peace—just as calling the strip “an enemy entity” and threatening to cut off power and fuel is unlikely to stop the rockets.
It is all up in the air… No one is confident. But most Palestinians and most Israelis are as keen as ever for a breakthrough towards a compromise. Another try is due. Access the full article>>