The Foreign Service Journal, December 2006

both sides would support a comprehensive plan for peace if they had reason to hope peace were possible. The prob- lem is that the same majorities have lost all hope, and nei- ther Israeli nor Palestinian leaders have embraced such a plan. The current Israeli leadership, driven by the military and settler interests, seeks a radically different outcome with a unilaterally imposed, ersatz Palestinian state, con- fined by barriers in scarcely connected enclaves. Palestin- ian policies have been ambiguous, and the new Hamas government seems to have no clear policy except sticking fast to non-recognition of Israel and the right to armed resistance, although it continues to support a ceasefire and has authorized President Abbas to negotiate. The Path to Peace A U.S. peace initiative, with a firm commitment by the president, that sponsored new negotiations based on solu- tions already proposed by Israelis and Palestinians could have a dramatic effect on the politics and psychology of both sides if skillfully designed, presented with compas- sion for both, and pursued firmly and patiently. To be sure, such a plan would be bitterly opposed at the outset by right-wing Israeli leaders and by influential conserva- tive Jewish and Christian elements here at home. It would therefore require stamina, an extended horizon for success, and a skilled effort to build a strong American and international peace constituency. To succeed, an American peace plan should propose solutions not only for the core Israeli-Palestinian issue, but for Israel’s conflicts with Syria and Lebanon as well. Israel’s recent disastrous war with Lebanon has under- scored the indivisibility of these three conflicts. Such a bold American initiative could ease our disengagement from Iraq and encourage support from the Arab world for that process. A comprehensive approach could also help neutralize the challenge from Iran and establish a more rational U.S.-Iranian relationship. To create a domestic foundation for a newMiddle East policy, the president should engage and seek to empower, especially, liberal Zionist groups and unaffiliated Jews who support peace and may well constitute, contrary to con- ventional wisdom, a “silent” American Jewish majority. F O C U S D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 25