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May 30, 2003/Iyar 28 5763, Vol. 55, No. 40
Bush prepares to wade into fray
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - President Bush will not be the first president to risk his own time, energy and possibly his legacy trying to forge Arab-Israeli peace.
But as he prepares for a summit with the prime ministers of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Bush will not be coming into the negotiating sessions to seal the deal, the way President Carter did with the Israeli-Egyptian pact at Camp David in 1978, and as President Clinton tried to do on the Israeli-Palestinian front in 2000.
Unlike previous presi-dential engagements, Bush will not be going for broke, keeping foreign leaders secluded until a deal is hammered out, attempting to settle all of the issues between the sides.
The summit Bush is planning with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas - tentatively scheduled for June 5 in Jordan - will be much more concise, likely to last just one day.
The goal won't be making peace but making it possible to make peace, said David Makovsky, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"What Bush is attempting is more modest: conflict management," Makovsky said. "We're not trying to solve the core issues but to change the dynamic on the ground, change the war process and give hope to the peace process."
The Israeli-Palestinian summit is being touted as recognition of the steps the sides have made toward peace in recent weeks. From the Israeli side, that includes Sunday's Cabinet vote in favor of the plan.
On the Palestinian side, it's the installation of Abbas as the first Palestinian Authority prime minister, part of an attempt to nudge aside P.A. President Yasser Arafat, whom the United States considers too tied to terrorism.
Aaron Miller, a veteran of several State Department efforts to forge Arab-Israeli peace, including the 2000 Camp David summit, says presidential involvement is important because peace-making depends heavily on personal interaction, and American presidents com-mand respect.
"When we've achieved breakthroughs it has almost always been when leaders have been prepared to get involved," said Miller, now president of Seeds of Peace, a conflict mediation summer camp in Maine.
Even though no peace agreement will emerge from next week's summit, Miller says it's still important to show new intensity toward that end.
"The level of personal mistrust is so profound, only the involvement of key decision makers on our side is going to get everyone's attention and have some follow-up," he said.
But Miller warned of one important lesson from the Clinton efforts: It's best to husband presidential clout, using it only at key times rather than making the president the main mediator. For that, Miller suggests appointing a special envoy.
With Bush's visit coming at the start of peace talks rather than their conclusion, there has been much less time for preparation than at past summits, and it seems unlikely that all of the parties will be on the same page.
William Quandt, who served as director of Middle Eastern affairs in Carter's National Security Council, suggested that Bush listen more than he speak, at least in public: His comments could give signals as to which side he favors on certain issues, or show his inexperience in Middle East diplomacy.
"You don't want to look like the least experienced person there, which you are," Quandt said. "Don't get into stuff you don't understand, especially in public."
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