Middle East & North Africa / Comment
No Middle East peace without tough love
14/04/2008 By Henry Siegman
The former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel have announced their intention to organise a new Middle East peace conference next June in Berlin.
After a series of failed conferences and peace initiatives in the region, which began with the Madrid conference of 1991, the Israel-Palestine conflict seems to have arrived at a point in which the negotiation of fundamental issues, rather than the organising of further meetings, is required.
The international community seems to be either impotent or unwilling to pressure both sides in the conflict, however. If new talks are convened, they will suffer the same problems that have undermined previous efforts, especially with regard to Israel and its lack of will to meet its commitments.
Expert Henry Siegman argues that there is no need to continue with more meetings and empty declarations. The only way forward, according to the Director of the US/Middle East Project, is to pressure Israel to end to its colonial policy in Palestine.
For Siegman, putting an end to the injustice inflicted on Palestine would honour the Jewish national liberation enterprise and strengthen the legitimacy of the Israeli State.
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Keywords
Conflict Gaza Strip and West Bank International relations Israel MEPP Middle EastRelated publications
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- To Palestine, via "Mecca" and "Beirut"
Bio author: Henry Siegman
Henry Siegman is president of the U.S./Middle East Project, a program of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) for the past 14 years and, as of September 2006, an independent policy institute. He is also a research professor at the Sir Joseph Hotung Middle East Program at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Mr. Siegman's areas of specialization include Arab-Israel relations, the Middle East peace process, U.S. Middle East policy, and interreligious relations.
