The Middle East roadmap is only hope for peace in the region and beyond

Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers trekked to the White House, within a matter of days of each other last month to meet with United States President Bush - the driving force who is keeping the parties on the roadmap to peace in the Middle East.It was the first visit to the White House for Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and eighth for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.With its hands full in Afghanistan and Iraq, and growing confrontation with a defiant alleged nuclear power North Korea, the Bush administration seems keen to break the impasse in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and is sticking to its resolve to create an independent Palestinian state by 2005. Such an entity is envisaged in the roadmap endorsed by the international community, including the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.As leader of the sole superpower, President Bush is assuming responsibility for diffusing the simmering conflict, which could spark for a wider conflict. The protracted Israeli/Palestinian conflict also lies at the root cause for much of the resentment in the Arab/Muslim world against the United States. It is because the United States is perceived to have been playing favourite with Israel but President Bush wants to be seen adopting an even-handed approach in resolving the conflict.It will be the dawn of a new era for United States relations with the Arab/Muslim world if it can help resolve the seemingly senseless feud which sees innocent civilians killed. From Afghanistan to Pakistan to Iraq and Indonesia, the United States will be perceived in a different light if it succeeds in taking the parties to the end of the roadmap.While the road to peace in the Middle East is littered with discarded agreements and plans, the current roadmap offers the best hope with a built-in timetable for necessary actions to be taken. It is not an easy task and President Bush is gambling a fair amount of political capital in pursuing this roadmap. He seems to be succeeding, though there is much scepticism. He has successfully, through Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas, managed to convince suicide bombers to provide a reprieve from attacks against Israeli civilians. The June 29 pledge for "total cessation of violence" by Palestinian groups is holding. It is over a month now since the last suicide bombing.Almost 50 years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, partitioning Palestine, then under British mandate, into two independent states: one Arab, one Jewish, with the city of Jerusalem to be established as a separate entity under a special international regime and to be administered by the United Nations. Although a Jewish state - Israel, materialized in the following year in 1948, no parallel Arab state ever materialized. Therein lies the crux of the problem.Canada voted for the above-mentioned UN resolution and recently offered a policing force which could monitor an internationally recognized border between Israel and Palestine. Israel rejects the presence of such an international force. Instead, Prime Minister Sharon's government is building a 700-kilometres fence at a cost of U.S. $1.5-billion to separate the two peoples. President Bush has called this unilateral demarcation of the land by building a wall "a problem."According to President Bush, "It is very difficult to develop confidence between the Palestinians and Israel with a wall snaking through the West Bank." Citing security concerns, Israeli Prime Minister told President Bush in Washington two weeks ago, "the security fence will continue to be built." In response, President Bush hoped "in the long term, the fence would be irrelevant."It is time for Canada to wage in and help develop confidence-building programs for Israelis and Palestinians. Geography and history dictates that the two peoples have to live side by side. They may as well find ways to do so in peace. The one solution would be to draw the boundary at the internationally-accepted 1967 borders and place an international force to keep the two sides apart.This will allow both states to build their economies and infrastructure and the international family of peaceful nations. If the Palestinians continue to be denied a state of their own, there is no end in sight to the carnage that will revisit innocent civilians on both sides sooner than later.Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers trekked to the White House, within a matter of days of each other last month to meet with United States President Bush - the driving force who is keeping the parties on the roadmap to peace in the Middle East.It was the first visit to the White House for Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and eighth for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.With its hands full in Afghanistan and Iraq, and growing confrontation with a defiant alleged nuclear power North Korea, the Bush administration seems keen to break the impasse in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and is sticking to its resolve to create an independent Palestinian state by 2005. Such an entity is envisaged in the roadmap endorsed by the international community, including the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.As leader of the sole superpower, President Bush is assuming responsibility for diffusing the simmering conflict, which could spark for a wider conflict. The protracted Israeli/Palestinian conflict also lies at the root cause for much of the resentment in the Arab/Muslim world against the United States. It is because the United States is perceived to have been playing favourite with Israel but President Bush wants to be seen adopting an even-handed approach in resolving the conflict.It will be the dawn of a new era for United States relations with the Arab/Muslim world if it can help resolve the seemingly senseless feud which sees innocent civilians killed. From Afghanistan to Pakistan to Iraq and Indonesia, the United States will be perceived in a different light if it succeeds in taking the parties to the end of the roadmap.While the road to peace in the Middle East is littered with discarded agreements and plans, the current roadmap offers the best hope with a built-in timetable for necessary actions to be taken. It is not an easy task and President Bush is gambling a fair amount of political capital in pursuing this roadmap. He seems to be succeeding, though there is much scepticism. He has successfully, through Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas, managed to convince suicide bombers to provide a reprieve from attacks against Israeli civilians. The June 29 pledge for "total cessation of violence" by Palestinian groups is holding. It is over a month now since the last suicide bombing.Almost 50 years ago, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, partitioning Palestine, then under British mandate, into two independent states: one Arab, one Jewish, with the city of Jerusalem to be established as a separate entity under a special international regime and to be administered by the United Nations. Although a Jewish state - Israel, materialized in the following year in 1948, no parallel Arab state ever materialized. Therein lies the crux of the problem.Canada voted for the above-mentioned UN resolution and recently offered a policing force which could monitor an internationally recognized border between Israel and Palestine. Israel rejects the presence of such an international force. Instead, Prime Minister Sharon's government is building a 700-kilometres fence at a cost of U.S. $1.5-billion to separate the two peoples. President Bush has called this unilateral demarcation of the land by building a wall "a problem."According to President Bush, "It is very difficult to develop confidence between the Palestinians and Israel with a wall snaking through the West Bank." Citing security concerns, Israeli Prime Minister told President Bush in Washington two weeks ago, "the security fence will continue to be built." In response, President Bush hoped "in the long term, the fence would be irrelevant."It is time for Canada to wage in and help develop confidence-building programs for Israelis and Palestinians. Geography and history dictates that the two peoples have to live side by side. They may as well find ways to do so in peace. The one solution would be to draw the boundary at the internationally-accepted 1967 borders and place an international force to keep the two sides apart.This will allow both states to build their economies and infrastructure and the international family of peaceful nations. If the Palestinians continue to be denied a state of their own, there is no end in sight to the carnage that will revisit innocent civilians on both sides sooner than later.The success of the roadmap will take away the raison d'etre of the Osama bin Ladens of the world for fuelling hatred against the United States and will allow Americans to enjoy living in a terror-free world. When one lives in a society as free and open as that of the United States it is difficult to counter every terrorist threat or act.Every American, Israeli, Palestinian - for that matter all of us deserve to live in a terror-free world. A major step to this end is to support the efforts of President Bush to see a successful conclusion of the journey of this roadmap with the creation of an independent and viable Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace and security. Canada needs to be more vocal in support of it.Bhupinder S. Liddar, editor of Diplomat & International Canada magazine and host of The Diplomatic World on CPAC-TV, can be reached at www.diplomat-canada.comThe Hill Timesdiplomat@sympatico.ca

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