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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/21/AR2008092101126.html
A Peace from the Bottom Up
[Washington Post] Jackson Diehl - The Bush administration's attempt to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal has quietly expired after Secretary of State Rice's 16 trips to the region over the past 21 months and last year's Annapolis peace conference. Nor is it likely to revive anytime soon. With Wall Street's meltdown, the failing Afghan war, the growing U.S. military engagement in Pakistan and Russia's neo-imperialist eruption - not to mention the nuclear threats of Iran and North Korea - the perpetual headache of the West Bank and Gaza, where violence is at a relative low point, can barely be felt in Washington. This isn't an argument for the next administration to write off Middle East diplomacy, but to try a different approach, one that focuses on building a foundation for peace from the ground up, rather than pushing fickle and fragile leaders to dictate a settlement from above. The timeline for success would be measured in years and the goal would be the construction of a healthy and vibrant Palestinian civil society - that is, independent media, courts, political parties and nongovernmental organizations that could stand behind a settlement with Israel. Natan Sharansky has been proposing this course for years.