11/28/2007

The World From Berlin

'You Can Pick Your Friends, But Not Your Enemies'

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders, umpired by President George W. Bush, are pushing forward on an agreement for the existence of an independent Palestinian state. German commentators are eager to see action to back up the bold statements.

President Bush looks on as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas shake hands at the Mideast peace conference on Tuesday.

Going into the US-hosted Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, expectations were low.

But on Tuesday, US President George W. Bush announced that the meeting was taking place "to lay the foundation for the establishment of a new nation: a democratic Palestinian state that will live side by side with Israel in peace and security."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, flanking Bush, agreed to jointly seek an independent Palestinian state by the end of 2008, potentially ending the six-decade Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

At issue are several points that will have to be resolved if each party is to commit fully to the late-2008 deadline: the dismantling of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the future borders of a Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem, and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

"There is quite a lot that separates us," Israeli Prime Minister Olmert said to Palestinian leader Abbas. "Nevertheless, there is a great deal we share. Like us, you know that religious fanaticism and national extremism are a perfect recipe for domestic instability and violence."

The conference at the United States Naval Academy was attended by 49 nations, among them Syria, who sent its deputy foreign minister, Fayssal Mekdad, rather than his superior, Walid Moallem, whom the US had invited.

Saudia Arabia was also among those attending the summit, although it does not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel. Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, called for Israel to leave the West Bank and said that the "time has come for Israel to put its trust in peace after it has gambled on war for decades without success."

The glaring omissions from the talks were Iran and the Palestinian leadership of Hamas, the extremist group that was elected in democratic elections in January of last year and which now controls the Gaza Strip.

German newspapers on Wednesday debated the difficulties of an Israeli-Palestinian solution.

The left-leaning Tageszeitung writes:

"Even if the head of the Israeli government is serious about compromise, his present coalition would know how to hinder it. They're doing it already through draft laws that make it practically impossible to partition Jerusalem."

"The Israeli government head needs a new alliance, something that will not be entirely easy to do. The 'left' coalition partner Ehud Barak, head of the labor party, turned dramatically to the right after his abortive attempts to do so. He developed into a hardliner and put a halt to all of Olmert's attempts at rapprochement with the Palestinians."

"As such, Olmert must be jealous of his adversary Mahmoud Abbas. The Palestinian president at least has his ministers under control, even if he only de facto governs half of the Palestinian territories."

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"Peace in the Middle East was supposed to occur as the Bush government's school of thought envisioned it: Beginning with Baghdad and the removal of Saddam Hussein, the development of freedom, security, and democracy would radiate throughout the troubled region. This didn't happen as Bush's advisors prophesized, and yet the hope for an Israeli-Palestinian compromise remains. This may, in fact, indirectly have something to do with the geopolitical consequences of the Iraq war: the Shiites' assumption of power in Baghdad means that Iraq can no longer counterbalance Iran's claims to hegemony."

"Whether or not this conflict with Iran is the main or partial reason for Bush's renewed interest in the Middle East, one hopes that that engagement will not flag."

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"Much that Olmert and Abbas have said in Annapolis sounds reheated. Abbas repeats that he wants east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital, and Olmert demands Israeli security. The mere presence of Arab states at the meeting, which Bush was so proud of, does not automatically produce more Israeli security or a Palestinian state. The mood between the Arab representatives and Israelis was decidedly frosty. They did not shake hands and there were no pleasantries exchanged. The Saudi foreign minister Saud al-Faisal snapped that he was not into theatrical gestures with members of the Israeli delegation."

"It's risky that the US president is maintaining diplomatic relations with only one half of the Palestinians; in doing so he makes the split in the Palestinian people very clear. You can choose your friends, but not your enemies. Hamas could have also been sitting at the table in Annapolis, or at least have been invited, like Syria."

-- R. Jay Magill Jr., 2:30 p.m. CET

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