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Hope for the Middle East Armstrong WilliamsDemocracy in the Middle East will not come through Iraq or Afghanistan. Ultimately, it will flow only from an independent Palestinian state. That became a possibility with the passing of Yasser Arafat. We have been presented with a window through which to launch democracy. The implications are profound. Arafat’s likely successor, Abu Ala, wants peace. He wants to prevent another generation of young men in that region from growing up without any hope. Most importantly, he is someone with whom we can negotiate. But the process cannot be forced or willfully imposed. The U.S. cannot simply prop up a group that has been openly hostile to Israel for the last 50 years. Doing so would prove disastrous for Israel down the road. We’ve seen in the past how supplying military and economic concessions to Egypt and, before them, Iraq, threatened over the long haul to pull apart the entire Middle Eastern balance of power. Story Continues Below Yes, we must act quickly. But we cannot act arbitrarily. We cannot push ahead with a peace plan without ensuring that the Palestinian Authority's new leader will actually crack down on terrorism against Israel. Simply, there can be no peace until the Palestinian leadership dedicates itself to eradicating acts of terrorism. Will a roadmap — a simple edict — undo the cultural configurations that lifetimes of hate have created? Plainly, the answer is no. There must be cultural change. The Palestinians must wish to integrate. This possibility exists. The Palestinians are weary from their own intifada. But a democratic Palestinian state living peaceably next to Israel will only occur after the PA infrastructure is reconfigured to discourage acts of terrorism. That process began with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders last week to restart the peace talks. After the meeting, Powell spoke to the historic opportunity presented by the forthcoming Palestinian elections: “I sense an understanding that an opportunity has presented itself and if both sides work together to make sure that the Palestinians have a successful election on the 9th of January, and to that election bestow the legitimacy of the electorate on a new president, then we have some opportunities to move even more aggressively in the months after that toward the disengagement from Gaza.” And indeed, Israel has responded with a historical withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. This is only a beginning. It will take an enormous effort by the U.S., Israel and the new Palestinian leadership to re-establish peace talks and to bring a new focus to the debate about an independent Palestinian state. America, England and Israel have stepped forward. If the Palestinian elections do not disintegrate beneath the infighting of rival factions, a new partnership for peace will emerge that would finally help stabilize the Middle East and have a ripple effect throughout the world.
www.armstrongwilliams.com
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