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Lending a Helping Hand

(U.S. News) Dennis Ross and David Makovsky - * Disengagement from the West Bank would be vastly more difficult than leaving Gaza: Not only will nearly eight times the number of settlers be involved, but the withdrawal would touch the biblical heartland of the Jewish people. Olmert must get something for this and will look for what Washington can provide for Israel in terms of recognition of a new border, financial help for the high costs of relocating settlers and settlements, and international acceptance of what Israel will do. * With the right kind of statecraft, the president and secretary of state may be able to turn the Olmert concept into a historic move that makes an eventual two-state solution possible. First, before accepting that nothing is possible with the Palestinians, President Bush should tell Olmert that he is prepared to test whether negotiations could still work with the Palestinians. * To that end, he would approach Mahmoud Abbas with two tasks that would create the environment necessary for negotiations and demonstrate that Palestinians are capable of delivering: Abbas would assume the responsibility for ending the daily rocket fire out of Gaza, and Hamas would prevent Islamic Jihad and others from carrying out attacks against Israelis. If both meet these tasks, we will push for direct negotiations. If neither performs, we will announce that "consolidation" is the only game in town. Dennis Ross was special U.S. Middle East envoy, 1988-2000, and is counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. David Makovsky is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute.
2006-04-23 00:00:00
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