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Who's to Blame for Middle East Peace Stall?
(Commentary) Michael Rubin - Increasingly, Washington and even more so European capitals are signaling that diplomatic agreements are empty promises and that outside guarantees are meaningless. This was shown most recently as Iran's Revolutionary Guards have moved into southern Lebanon alongside Hizbullah, taking photos and tweeting about their presence. The Iranian presence violates the terms of the truce that ended hostilities in 2006 between Lebanon and Israel, as well as UN guarantees. The international community supposedly made the UN mandate in southern Lebanon more robust and guaranteed Israel that Hizbullah would not rearm and militarize the south. Today, despite such guarantees, Hizbullah has rearmed with over 100,000 artillery pieces and missiles. These violations show just how empty Western promises and guarantees have become when it comes to its quest for peace in the Middle East. The 1993 Oslo Accords were a diplomatic triumph. At their heart was a Palestinian commitment to foreswear terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist, and commit to resolve outstanding conflicts through negotiation rather than unilateral actions. For any portion of the Palestinian Authority to turn its back on the commitment to foreswear terrorism and recognize Israel should void the Oslo Accords. For anyone in Washington or Europe to acquiesce to fundamental changes in Palestinian commitments regarding terrorism and Israel's security sends the signal to both Israel and the Palestinians that Western guarantees are worthless. The writer, a former Pentagon official, is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.