Time not ripe for two-state solution
Obama administration would be ill-advised to pursue Annapolis track against
all odds
Eytan Bentsur YNET Published: 02.26.09, 13:22 / Israel Opinion
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3678035,00.html

The Obama administration will have to address on an immediate basis a number
of burning problems of varying degrees of magnitude. In the short run it
will be required to tackle the rehabilitation of Gaza under Hamas' rule: On
the one hand to secure aid to assure the fundamental wellbeing of its
inhabitants, while at the same time curtailing the influx of weaponry into
Gaza. The fight against terror, its performers and sources has to be
continued in all vigor. The belligerent policy of Hamas should be
continuously subject to international boycott and isolation with minimal ill
effects on the population.

The Obama administration will be called upon to regularize the settlement
issue, canonize prevailing understandings with the outgoing Israeli
government and see to it that it that they are being respected and duly
implemented.

In the realm of the immediate policy is the contemplated dialogue with Iran.
The Americans must see to it that the dialogue doesn't eclipse ongoing
Iranian endeavors to acquire nuclear capacity to the degree that it could
constitute a worldwide threat.

The encounter with Iran should be conducted with determination. It is
imperative that the outcome should be unequivocal. Otherwise Saddam
Hussein's Iraq will be a fairytale in comparison. It is of critical
importance to contain Iran. On Iraq, President Obama seems to have made up
his mind to gradually withdraw American troops. In the aftermath the
stability of the Iraqi regime will also be affected by an overall
comprehensive Mideast peace process, which should be the long term goal of
the Obama administration.

Whereas the two-state solution ought to be reiterated, for the time being it
is an untenable proposition. It will be a grave mistake to pursue the
Annapolis track against all odds.

Revive Madrid process

As long as Hamas remains defiant of any peace agreement with Israel while
acting as a full-fledged extremist Iranian agent, we are much closer to the
establishment of two Palestinian states than to reaching a two-state
solution. The precarious rule of President Abbas, who is at pains to
prosecute his Israeli counterparts for the peace negotiations as war
criminals, is conducive to an inflammable fiasco.

The principle of "two states" is valid, but its time is not ripe, mainly
because of the overshadowing stumbling block of Hamas.

The structure of the comprehensive peace process should be founded on the
Arab peace initiative incorporated into the Madrid process, which must be
revived.

The Madrid process, which will take into account agreements and
understandings achieved thus far, is the only available vehicle to hit the
road to comprehensive peace.

It provides a viable, existing and proven framework that calls for historic
reconciliation and compromise alongside plans and endeavors for regional
cooperation in economic and practically all walks of life.

Spanish Foreign Minister Moratinos could remind his European colleagues and
Mrs. Clinton of the virtues of this process. For a short while, following
the Madrid Conference (1991), the region was an altogether "new Middle
East", filled with hope, reconciliation and cooperation. True, there are new
circumstances, but not all of them turned for the worst. The Madrid process
is essentially the balanced and enriched implementation of the Arab peace
initiative.

President Obama and his bailiffs Clinton and Mitchell would be well advised
not to lose time and restore the Madrid formula. If you reach Madrid,
Annapolis will have become a station on the journey to comprehensive peace.
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Eytan Bentsur is the former director-general of the Foreign Ministry