Another exercise in futility

AFTER leading his daughter Jenna down the aisle, US President George W Bush has once again turned attention to the Middle East peace process. President Bush has time and again expressed his desire to seal the peace deal between Palestinians and Israelis before he rides back to his Texas ranch.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was recently in the Middle East laying ground for the President's visit, said the US still believes a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians is possible by the year's end. Of course, she very casually described the Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank as "problematic".

However, before President Bush could board Air Force One, US national security adviser Stephen Hadley threw a bucket of cold water on accelerating peace process and forcing Israel to come good on its promises.

President Bush during the visit will not be travelling to Palestinian territory as the White House has already ruled out a three-way meeting between Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

In fact, the US President will be meeting President Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Egypt as, in the words of Hadley, bilateral negotiations are important and better discussed in private than in public.

One doesn't need to read between the lines. It will be yet another trip to show solidarity with the Israeli regime as President Bush will be taking part in the celebrations marking Israel's 60 years of illegal occupation of Palestine.

Calling President Bush a "great disengager", Aaron David Miller, a former US negotiator, said that years of US neglect have diminished any prospect of an independent Palestinian state.

The last time President Bush visited the Middle East, he talked of a "viable, contiguous, sovereign and independent Palestinian State." He even said: "A Swiss cheese ain't gonna work." But no conditions were laid down for Israel to cease settlements or end its daily military incursions into Palestinian territories.

In fact, after President Bush's visit, Israel has announced more settlements and increased its atrocities by choking food and fuel supplies to Gaza.

People say the time is not right for President Bush's visit as both Olmert and Abbas are at their weakest. Olmert is facing a corruption probe which may lead to his indictment and President Abbas' writ runs large only in West Bank with Gaza under total control of Hamas.

The main problem lies here: the US wants a peace deal on its own terms, giving scant respect to ground realities. By leaving out the Hamas, an important piece of the jigsaw puzzle, no peace agreement can come good.

The stubbornness of the Bush administration has further complicated the situation. Time and again people have emphasised that the Hamas cannot be left out of peace negotiations. The Hamas, which came to power on the power of ballot, cannot just be branded as 'terrorists' and ignored.

Former US president Jimmy Carter is not the only one who favours that the Hamas be engaged. Any political or peace deal will be meaningless without the Hamas onboard.

A group of prominent former senior US officials had recently called on the US to engage in "genuine dialogue" with the Hamas, and a few months ago a British parliamentary committee had called for engaging the Hamas in political dialogue, saying that the boycott of the Hamas was counterproductive.

The parliamentary panel said that Britain should make an effort to form a new unity Palestinian government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and that pursuing a "West Bank first policy" under which Britain deals with the West Bank would further jeopardise peace.

So again President Bush will just talk, justify Zionist atrocities in the name of security and put more conditions for Palestinians to fulfil. And like many other US presidents, he will leave empty-handed.