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Bush's Mideast Trip

[Washington Times] Chuck Freilich - President Bush's upcoming Mideast tour may be well intentioned, but the stage is set for a dark comedy - not a feel-good play. In the month since the Annapolis conference, Hamas has further solidified its control over chaotic Gaza and barely a day passes without Kassam rockets hitting the southern Israeli town of Sderot. With its cities under attack, Israel's reticence to launch a major ground operation in Gaza will disappear, despite the heavy anticipated loss of life on both sides. Not that it will achieve a long-lasting effect. It will not, but public uproar will force government action. In the West Bank, the Fatah-headed Palestinian Authority governs in name only, its rule contingent on Israel's military control and pacification of the extremists. The good news, on which all hopes are pinned, is that Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad are probably the best-meaning Palestinian leaders we will see for many years to come. Intentions, however, are insufficient. The sad reality is that they do not have the power to make or enforce the necessary decisions domestically or vis-a-vis Israel. The writer is a senior fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and is Ira Weiner Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
2008-01-07 01:00:00
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