Shavit’s prescription

One of the most consistently interesting Israeli columnists, is Ari Shavit from Ha’aretz. Though a member of the Left and of the peace camp, he has consistently demonstrated an intellectual honest that makes him readable even if I don’t agree with everything he writes. But today’s “On a Divine Mission” is just about perfect. At first he sounds a bit condescending.

The man standing at the window this morning is a very lonely man. He is vilified in his own country and almost a leper in the international community. The America that he tried to save has turned against him, and the West that he wanted to defend is dismissive of him.

But Shavit comes back by dismissing that superficial judgment.

But George W. Bush is not deterred, nor does he bend to public opinion, to the media and to trendy thinging.Unlike some of his friends, he is not an opportunist who changes his stripes. He conducts his dialogue with history and with God. And since he is a man of moral clarity and simple principles and character, he does not tend to give in. Even when the current turns against him he remains faithful to his truth.

What must President Bush do?

The right formula is the Bush vision. To act with determination in order to create Palestinian capability before precisely defining the borders of the Palestinian territory. To promote Paris before devoting ourselves to Annapolis. To help the Palestinians bring about their conversion rather than pretending that the conversion has already taken place. In short: to return to George W. Bush’s fundamental truths.

The contrast between Shavit’s reading of the president and Bush recall 1998 trip to Israel by Michael Abramowitz in the Washington Post is stark.

Those close to Bush believe the trip made a very strong impression on the future president and would bond him to the future Israeli prime minister — and, in the view of Bush’s critics, would ultimately tilt the United States away from its role as a more independent broker of Middle East peace.

The Washington Post article portrays an easily convinced rube. The notion that Israel has legitimate security concerns is negated by the unchallenged comments of unspecified critics of the president.

Still it appears that the President is ignoring Shavit’s advice and pushing for a Palestinian state ready or not. Still that hasn’t exactly made him popular among the Palestinians.

Jericho, a relatively tranquil town of about 25,000 Palestinians north of the Dead Sea, was on the short list of West Bank Palestinian Authority destinations for the presidential visit, with Bethlehem and Ramallah, the site of the Palestinian authority headquarters. The governor of Jericho, Arif Jaabari, said that American security and diplomatic staff had been to his compound twice and checked the area where Yasir Arafat’s helicopter used to land.But Jericho was not included in the president’s final schedule, causing little disappointment among residents. “He’s the worst, Bush,” said a 64-year-old man who identified himself only by his nickname, Abu Muhammad. “He supports Israel and mocks and deceives us.”

What’s remarkable is how much aid – financial and political – the United States has given the Palestinians during the Bush administration and how little these contributions have helped. They haven’t made the Palestinians more receptive to Israel or even to fulfilling American conditions. Still the president pushes for them to have a state. And they keep demonizing him.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.