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October 8, 2004/Tishri 23 5765, Vol. 57, No. 6
Finding the 'missing peace'
DEBORAH SUSSMAN SUSSER
Staff Writer
Ambassador Dennis Ross has dedicated his new book, "The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace," (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $35 hardcover) to the children of the Middle East. It's a fitting tribute from a man who has spent much of his career trying to forge peace in that region.
As chief Middle East peace negotiator for both presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, Ross has seen much of the struggle for peace up close. His book begins with a description of Clinton's last hours as president, and the agony of watching the last gasps of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord that Ross and the president had hammered out. Starting from that end point, Ross describes in detail the years that led up to those excruciating moments in January of 2001.
Ross will be in the Valley next week to discuss "The Missing Peace." On Tuesday, Oct. 12, he will appear at Arizona State University, in a public lecture co-sponsored by ASU College of Law, the Center for the Study of Religion and Con-flict, the School of Global Studies and the Barrett Honors College. Ross will also speak that evening at an event organized by the Young Leadership Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix.
Now a counselor and dis-tinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Ross remains an important voice in the debate about the situation in the Middle East. He is reputed to be a sounding board for Sen. John Kerry on matters concerning the Middle East; his assessment of the Bush administration's record in that region is less than glowing. While he believes that Bush's decision to "disengage" from peacemaking was a legitimate change of course after the heavy involvement of the Clinton administration, he says that disengagement has not worked.
"The situation has gotten dramatically worse than it was," Ross says. "You've got what has been a war between the two, which was never really the case before. ... And I think a continuing pattern of disengagement will only see a worsening of the situation."
According to Ross, Israel will take some unilateral steps, such as leaving Gaza, but the situation itself will not improve without parallel moves from the Palestinians. "So long as in the end Israel just takes uni-lateral steps," Ross says, "it will simply create a new confron-tation line."
Ross warns that unless the Bush administration alters its policy, continued disengage-ment will lead to four more years of "complete hope-lessness."
Asked how the war in Iraq might affect the situation in the Middle East, Ross asserts that the two are not connected.
"The notion that the road to Jerusalem went through Baghdad ignored the fact that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a conflict of two national movements competing for the same space, which existed before Saddam Hussein was ever around. Had Iraq gone the way the administra-tion hoped ... then it would have created a climate and a context in which the perception in the area would have been that all problems might be solvable." But, Ross points out, the problems would remain.
In spite of continued violence in The Middle East Ross discerns signs of hope.
"We've had a situation that is completely frozen for the last three-and-a half years," he says, "and we've had a war for the last three-and-a-half years. Now into that frozen situation, you have Sharon's decision to get out of Gaza.
"First of all, it creates a challenge and an opportunity for Palestinians ... The reformers understand this is a moment that they have to become more assertive and they have to be able to govern themselves once Israel is out. And that's the good news, along with the Israeli decision to get out."
The bad news, Ross says, is that both Hamas and Arafat want to create the impression they forced the Israelis out. And that means, in Ross's words, "more of what we're seeing now, only worse."
In Ross's opinion, the United States should be "a bridge between the Israelis and the Palestinians, at least the Israelis and the Palestinian reformers, by finding out from Sharon what it is he needs to be able to turn the land and the settlements over to the reformers."
Ross believes that in order to take advantage of this possibility for peace, the United States also needs to get other nations involved.
"We need to get the Europeans and the Arabs, and especially the Egyptians, who have a stake in stability in Gaza after the Israelis are out ... to publicly prepare the ground by making it clear that they will support the Palestinians wherever they are receiving territory where the Israelis are getting out. But at the same time, they must publicly make it clear that if there are attacks on the Israelis as they withdraw, the support stops.
If the United States follows his prescription, Ross says, "we can take advantage of the opening that the withdrawal represents. It does represent an opening. The question is, will we take advantage of it?"
Details
- What: Dennis Ross lecture
- When: 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12
- Where: College of Law Great Hall at ASU
- Who: ASU College of Law, the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, the School of Global Studies and the Barrett Honors College
- Cost: Free
- Call: 480-727-6736
- When: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12
- Where: Private home
- Who: YLD (young adults ages 22-45)
- Cost: $15, includes dessert reception
- Call: 480-634-4900, ext. 1132
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