The Middle East — Passivity in a Time of Crisis

The Middle East — Passivity in a Time of Crisis

July 21, 2006

On July 12, "Lebanese Hezbollah militants crossed the Israeli border," capturing two Israeli soldiers and killing eight. The attack followed a similar incident two weeks earlier when Palestinian militants entered Israel through a half-mile long tunnel under the border and attacked an Israeli Army post, killing two soldiers and capturing 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit." These provocations triggered intense fighting between the Israeli military and Hezbollah fighters that has continued for nine days and included a sustained Israeli air assault on Lebanon and rocket attacks on Israel by Hezbollah. Israel, as any other sovereign nation has the right to defend itself. But other administrations, Republican and Democratic alike, have seen a vital U. S. interest in working aggressively with the international community to contain violence in the region. So while UN General Secretary Kofi Annan has called for an immediate cease-fire, the Bush administration has stayed passive as the situation spirals out of control.

• The current administration appeared to be abandoning a tradition of bold action. Previous administrations have taken bold steps to limit violence in the region. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger famously came to the region and used "shuttle diplomacy" — meeting repeatedly with each party — to negotiate "disengagement agreements between Israel, Syria, and Egypt" following the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Similarly, in 1996, then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher spent "seven days shuttling between Damascus and Jerusalem" and successfully negotiated a "truce between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas." The Bush administration, however, "effectively disengaged from the peace process" deriding diplomatic efforts as "naive and ineffectual" and abandoning the U.S. traditional role as an "honest broker." Belatedly, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has announced she plans to visit the region sometime next week — as the violence continues to escalate.
  
  
• American citizens continue to find themselves in harm’s way. In addition to Israelis and Lebanese, thousands of Americans find themselves in harm’s way. Fifteen-thousand Americans "have registered with the Department of State’s Lebanon Task Force to receive evacuation information," and at least 8,000 have indicated they want to leave. American officials were slow to respond. Only a couple of thousand have been able to evacuate, so far, and "departed two days after the first Europeans left on ships." Denmark, for example, "evacuated more than 4,000 of its citizens" by Thursday. There are still "no plans... for the [evacuation of] several hundred Americans in southern Lebanon."
  
  
• There is a way forward to peace. The death toll has now climbed to more than 30 killed in Israel and 300 killed in Lebanon with more than 500,000 Lebanese forced to flee the bombings. Although the situation appears intractable, there is a way forward to peace. The leaders of the G-8 countries unanimously agreed on the four steps that need to be taken: 1) The return of the Israeli soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon unharmed; 2) An end to the shelling of Israeli territory; 3) An end to Israeli military operations and the early withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; and 4) The release of the arrested Palestinian ministers and parliamentarians. To help achieve these goals, the government of Lebanon needs "sovereign authority over all its territory in fulfillment of U.N. Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1559." The formula for resolution of the conflict exists. What's missing is the political will to make it happen, particularly from the Bush administration.