Two kids fighting in a sandbox
By Robert Rosenberg
June 27 2002

I have to admit I'm of two minds about President Bush's speech of June 24 2002. There is nothing that would be better for the region if the Palestinians were to get into some serious democratic nation building, not only for their sake, and the sake of enabling a genuine peace with Israel, but for the sake of the whole region -- and to a large extent the world -- proving that yes, the Arabs can construct a fully democratic state. And obviously, on the way to that happening, Israel will have to give up the settlements, which have drained the Jewish state's morally, financially, and politically, and as the president pointed out, threaten Israel's security by threatening its own democracy. So, ostensibly, I should wholeheartedly be in favor of everything Bush said.

My problem is not with what he said, but what he didn't say, specifically, what he didn't say about what the United States will do if the Palestinians don't make the effort to create a demcoracy, and what the United States will do if Israel doesn't help that process by starting to move to end the occupation. In other words, what, other than words, will happen.

For a long time, to the outsider, the Israelis and Palestinians must appear to be two children in a sandbox, beating each other up over who will get to play in the box, when the obvious solution is for them to share, or, if they can't do that, for each to stay on their side. But little kids tend not to be able to come up with such slutions. For that, adults -- parents or teachers -- are necessary. And the only parent or teacher around is the United States.

Unfortunately, the president's speech was like a substitute teacher speaking to an unruly junior high school class. Full of fury and clarity, but with no possible threat to make sure they shut up. And it's obvious he can't really act -- he doesn't want to offend American Jews, who will be voting, and more improtantly donating mioney to political campaigns this year. And he doesn't want to upset the Arabs, particularly Saudi Arabia, which is less democratic than what already exists in Palestine, and far more corrupt, considering Saudi Arabia, as a country, is not only ruled, but owned by a single family, which happens to be best friends with Bush's own family.

In the sandbox, the adult usually says to the older kid or the bigger kid, you go first, meaning, show a little maturity or responsibility, since you are, after all, older, or bigger. So, president could have said in his speech to the Israelis, take the first step to prove to the Palestinians you mean business, because, as the president himself said in the speech, not since Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated and Shimon Peres was defeated in an election (as close as the one Bush was given as victor by the courts) have the Palestinians seen any evidence of Israel's sincerity about making peace. That first step could be as simple as removing the 60 wildcat "outposts" -- a couple of mobile homes on hills next to existing setlements, that even the Israeli government acknowledges are illegal, established without any approval by settlers (in fact, established at the urging of Ariel Sharon when he was foreign minister in Benjamin Netanyahu's government after Netanyahu signed the Clinton-brokered Wye River deal with Arafat that Netanyahu immediately reneged on, after he completed the first stage).

Or, he could have said to the Palestinians, you take the first step -- arrest the following people, and then list, out loud, the specific names of the top ten terrorist commanders in the West Bank. Or he could have even been more speciic abou Arafat, whom he didn't name in his speech, saying something like he led you to the Promised Land, but he obviously doesn't know how to manage a country. Get rid of him and you'll get A, B, and C -- starting with the $250 million of your money the Israelis have been holding since the intifada started and the Palestinian Authority began using the money to pay the salaries of the people who were shooting at the Isrelis.

In other words, Bush did not lay out the specifics of the quid pro quos that are needed to get the ball rolling. Neither side is going to take the first step. I foolishly hoped that America would take the first step by forcing one side or the other, it really doesn't matter which one goes first, to do so.

So now what? We'll remain hostage to the hatred on both sides, able only to find hope in the fact that neither Ariel Sharon nor Yasser Arafat are as young as George Bush, and neither of them have ever gone jogging.

Robert Rosenberg

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