Archive / Other publications
The next U.S. president and the Israel-Palestine conflict
30/10/2008 By Henry Siegman
The next occupant of the Oval Office will be the last American president to be able to save the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. If he does not pursue and achieve this goal during the first year of his presidency, the two-state “horizon” that President George W. Bush pursued so ineffectively is likely to disappear for good.
But even a quick engagement by the new president will fare no better than previous U.S. peace initiatives – all of which have gotten nowhere – if he and his advisors approach the task believing that some more “peace processing” or “confidence-building measures” will achieve the goal that eluded his predecessors.
A U.S. initiative that goes beyond the failed “facilitation” of previous administrations to vigorous and determined diplomacy can still produce a two-state solution, but only a president whose political and moral horizon extends beyond the next Congressional elections – and understands that by the time those elections occur, the two-state solution will have disappeared – can hope to bring this multi-generational tragedy to an end.
Download the full version of this publication, available in English (46 kB)
To read or listen to the comments of our experts in the media about this and other topics, please visit our Press section.
Keywords
Conflict Gaza Strip and West Bank Israel United StatesRelated publications
- A proposal for governance of the Gaza Strip in the context of the announced israeli withdrawal
- Bush and Blair, lost in Palestine and Israel
- Europe, Israel and Palestine: endgame?
- For a more progressive transatlantic agenda
- Irregular Warfare and Non-State Combatants: Israel and Hezbollah
- Is criticism of Israel anti-semitic? Shooting the messengers
- Latin America and the United States of America: an agenda set adrift
- US 2008 and foreign policy: what to expect from a John McCain presidency
- US-Israeli policy and the new White House
- USA 2008: candidates confront the critical issues in Colombia
- USA 2008: the Democrats, free trade and Latin America
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.
