Picking apart President Bush’s summing up of his Palestinian- Israeli peace brokering is a little like reading the fine print in the nutritional information on comfort food: there’s empty puffery, to be sure, but also nuggets of substance. …
Much of what Bush put forward was not new or was symbolic — but there were a few groundbreaking items, including his clearest call yet to the Israelis to freeze settlement expansion and a call for compensation for Palestinians dispersed after the creation of Israel in 1948. …
If anything was different here, it was Bush’s insistence on routine meetings. Abbas and Olmert have met just twice since the end of November, most recently on Tuesday, the day before Bush arrived… Bush also reiterated his support for Israel as a Jewish state, and called again on Arab states to begin the process of recognizing Israel… Bush also on Thursday made his first foray into the toughest issue involved in any permanent-status negotiations: Jerusalem. But he did so without advancing any substantive proposals like those laid out by President Clinton in his own final year in office. …
One outcome of Annapolis was that Bush persuaded both sides to make the United States the arbiter of an agreement. And with his visit this week, he made clear he expects such an agreement within a year. Access the full article>>