Yemen Observer: http://www.yobserver.com
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Editorials
Written By: Staff Editor
Article Date: Jan 19, 2008 - 5:30:08 AM
Wrapping up his tour to the Middle East, President George W. Bush has returned to Washington with less results than expected from his tour.
At first glance there seemed to be some positive outcomes of his efforts for pushing peace in the Middle East, particularly with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This was clear in the statement issued at the end of his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. For the first time, Bush offered guidelines for negotiations which he insisted should start right away and, for the first time, we could read the main features of the final agreement.
The statement sounded “expediently balanced” in addressing the basic demands of each side, although clearly leaning heavily in bias towards the Israelis. In its first part, the president’s statement defined general principles which fall very much in line with what is generally known and has long been circulated. It opened with expressions of gratitude to Abbas and Ulmert for the straightforward discussions the president had with them, “but it is time now for the hard decisions to be taken,” said Bush, adding that he emphasized to both sides the necessity to accomplish concrete progress on all tracks.
However, a few days later, Ihud Ulmert announced that Bush had pledged to not implement the peace agreement unless threats of violence from any Palestinian faction were stopped completely.
Meanwhile, we found that Bush has attacked Hamas and blamed it for the misery of the Palestinian people in Gaza. How can this peace agreement be implemented while Hamas is ignored? We all know that Israel would exploit any act taken by Hamas or by any other Palestinian group to wash its hands of the peace agreement and bring it back to the first quarter.
This means that establishing an Independent Palestinian state will never happen if conditions are set up in advance.
Nevertheless, by the end of his tour in Sharm el-Sheikh, Bush confirmed his optimism of achieving peace. “When I say I am coming back to stay engaged, I mean it. And when I say I am optimistic we can get a deal done, I mean what I am saying,” he told reporters in the Red Sea resort after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the last and briefest leg of his tour.
The second track of Bush’s tour that aimed at rallying the Arab states against Iran ended up being a big failure. In the United Arab Emirates, Bush called on the Arab allies to confront Iran. However, he did not mention the problem of the Emirates’ islands being occupied by Iran -- a matter that was met with unrest by the Emirs of the UAE.
They felt that Bush’s goals were far removed from theirs. Many Arab politicians and journalists said they felt that Bush’s target was to strike against Iran in order to protect Israel and nothing else.
In Saudi Arabia, Bush also faced difficulty in convincing his hosts to show a willingness to confront the “threat” of Iran.
“Iran is a neighboring country, an important country in the region. Naturally we feel nothing bad against Iran,” Saudi foreign minister Saud al-Faisal said.
The same situation existed in Kuwait. Yet as Bush was heading home, only days after a stop in Kuwait, Kuwait’s foreign minister was in Tehran expressing friendship with the Islamic republic. This meant that Bush left the region without wholehearted support from key Arab allies in the oil-rich Gulf for his campaign to isolate Iran, which he has repeatedly branded a “threat to world peace”.
If Bush has achieved any fruitful product from his tour to the Gulf countries, it was limited to his weapons deal with Saudi Arabia. This deal involves selling 900 satellite-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia for 120 million dollars, the first part of a planned 20-billion-dollar deal with the Gulf. The other successful product of his visit was his request that OPEC boost output to help ease the recession after oil prices hit $100 at the beginning of 2008. His remarks have helped to sharply reduce oil prices.