Olmert Deals Bush Double Defeats on Syria, Settlements
On Wednesday, embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and lame duck American President George W. Bush will meet in Washington in a gathering of the walking wounded. Bush's fading hopes to secure a Middle East peace agreement before leaving office have dimmed further as scandal enveloped his Israeli counterpart. Worse still, by moving ahead with peace talks with Syria and the expansion of West Bank settlements over just the past two weks, Olmert has already dealt President Bush a double-blow.
Just one week after Bush's abominable May 15 "appeasement" address to the Israeli Knesset, the New York Times revealed that the Olmert government had restarted peace talks with Syria. Rejecting Bush's condemnation of negotiating with "terrorists and radicals," Israel pursued talks with Damascus brokered by Turkey. Seeking to break the log jam on the Golan Heights, distance Assad from Iran and help alleviate the chaos Israel faces in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, Olmert commenced discussions despite U.S. opposition:
"The American government opposed Israeli-Syrian negotiations because they feared that such a negotiation would reward Syria at a time when the United States is seeking to isolate it for its backing of Hezbollah and its meddling in Lebanon, Bush administration and Israeli officials said. The United States yielded when it became clear that Israel was determined to go ahead, they said."
Given his weakened position, Olmert's prospects for a deal with the Syrians are slim. Worse still, he faces tremendous opposition at home, with two-thirds of Israelis balking at a return of the Golan Heights to the Syria. But in any event, opposition from George W. Bush was apparently no barrier to the talks moving forward.
The same could be said of Israeli settlement policy. Just 10 days after slapping Bush in the face over talks with Syria, the Olmert government announced plans to build nine hundred new housing units in the West Bank settlements of Pisgat Zeev and Har Homa.
The expansion of Israeli settlements so close to Jerusalem produced a predictable backlash from the Palestinians. Saeb Erekat, President Abbas' chief negotiator in talks with the Israelis, concluded, "At a time when we decide to go and meet with Mr. Olmert and continue with the negotiations despite all the political difficulties in Israel, this should not have been done today."
For its part, the Bush administration has sent mixed messages to Israel. In June 2002, President Bush declared, "Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories must stop." During her visit to Jordan in March, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said simply, "Settlement activity should stop - expansion should stop." But in April, the Washington Post revealed a 2004 letter from President Bush to then Prime Minister Sharon which secretly approved the expansion of existing Israeli settlements on the West Bank despite his stated U.S. policy to the contrary.
That said, White House press secretary Dana Perino on Monday reiterated the oft-stated Bush policy on Israeli settlements:
"Our position on the settlements is that, you know, we don't believe that any more settlements should be built. And we know that it exacerbates the tensions when it comes to the negotiations with the Palestinians."
But when it comes to his proven record of failure in his belated pursuit of peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, George W. Bush is grappling with tensions of his own. After Olmert introduced him to the Israeli Knesset in May as a "great leader, a great friend, a source of inspiration," Bush's "eyes welled up with tears." Perhaps recognizing the historical scope of his failed presidency, as Dan Froomkin suggested, "In this case, it seems his tears were for himself."
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