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America's Many Failed Attempts at Mideast Peace

[Boston Globe] Michael Oren - American attempts at Arab-Israeli peacemaking began in 1947, when Harry S Truman supported the UN plan to partition Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states. But the Palestinian Arabs rejected that compromise, and Arab armies tried to destroy the Jewish nation. U.S. leaders tend to view the Middle East as an arena for demonstrating their diplomatic prowess and for affirming America's status as a world power. A deeper impetus may be the desire of Americans, many of whom are religiously observant, to bring tranquility to the Holy Land. Nearly six decades of American mediation have registered only one lasting success: the 1979 treaty between Egypt and Israel. But that agreement was only made possible by the courage of Anwar Sadat, who became the first Arab leader to visit Israel. American mediation can succeed only after the emergence of local leaders who, like Sadat and Begin, have both the will and the strength to make peace. The writer is a senior fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem.
2007-01-04 01:00:00
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