Bush Making It Worse in Middle East

As with everything else he has touched, George Bush is seen as making matters worse in the Middle East. The self-proclaimed "uniter" has brought his special skills to one of the most volatile regions in the world vowing to bring peace within a year. We wonder if the voices in his head, which he attributes to God speaking to him, convinced him that his mere presence will cause the two sides to throw down their weapons, abandon centuries of hatred and embrace each other like long-lost relatives. This kind of thinking is beyond naive, it is moronic.

Instead of bridging the divide between the Israelis and the Palestinians, he has made it wider. Neither has he accelerated the peace process. Instead, he has merely managed to make it more difficult. On the red carpet that was laid out for him in the Holy Land, he has managed to bury the Palestinian state before it was even born.

Take, for example, what Bush said at a joint press conference with President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Thursday: The US president promised the Palestinians their own state within a year. He said he was convinced that a peace accord would be signed before the end of his term in January 2009.

Speaking at Abbas' side, Bush said that he was confident that "with proper help, the state of Palestine will emerge." Sources close to the negotiations said that Bush had offered to visit the region again if this was required to give the peace process fresh impetus. And the White House also announced on Thursday that Bush had named Lt. Gen. William Fraser as his envoy to monitor the Israeli-Palestinian "road map" peace plan.