MIDDLE EAST: Summits must tame Israel

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Att.Editors: The following item is by the United Arab Emirates news agency (WAM)

ABU DHABI, May 29 2003 (IPS) - A United Arab Emirates (UAE) newspaper today commented on the two summits to be held in the Middle East soon with the aim of motivating the Middle East peace process.

Commenting editorially on the issue, the Dubai-based ‘Gulf News’ said: – It now looks likely that US President George W. Bush will attend two summits in the Middle East. One will include Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, and the other will include the rulers of Morocco, Bahrain, Jordan and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, as well as the host, President Mubarak of Egypt.

ôOne obvious extra person to include in the wider summit is Bashar Al Assad, President of Syria, whose country is essential to any hope of peace in the Middle East, despite any misplaced US doubts about Assad’s government.

ôBush will be coming to the Arab summits refreshed by an earlier G8 summit, at which he is expected to heal many of the divisions that were created with the US and UK on one side, and France, Germany and Russia on the other, over the Iraq war.

ôHowever, this new confidence should not mean that Bush should try to bully the Arab leaders into some disastrous course of appeasement to Israel.

ôHe should be clear that the first duty to move the roadmap along is on the Israelis to show that they are willing to deliver anything. Sharon is a leader who is committed to an aggressive and expansionist Israel.

ôHe has stated many times that he does not like the course of peace, and will only come to peace from a position of power. In addition, many of his colleagues in the Israeli government are strongly against anything to do with the roadmap, and given the very narrow majority that Sharon managed to cobble together, Palestinians should doubt Sharon’s ability to deliver any progress towards peace.

ôThe two Arab summits should focus on the need for Israel to start making substantive moves towards peace, such as dismantling colonies and withdrawing troops from the Palestinian areas.

ôOnly then can the Arabs believe that Israel is looking for anything resembling peace," the paper concluded.