i
Women in green activists demonstrate against the "road map" during the cabinet meeting
that accepted it at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem. Photo:Ariel JerozolimskJ
"Road Map" vote .seen as historic,
but the hard part is lUSt beg,nnmg
By Naomi Segal
© The Jerusalem Post
JERUSALEM, (JTA) - The Israeli Cabinet's approval of the "road
map" toward Israeli- Palestinian peace, the first time an Israeli govern-
ment has explicitly endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state, was hailed
as a historic development.
But the decision on May 25 -- welcomed by the United States -- left
palestinians wary, Israeli settlers worried and commontators wondering
whether the vote was a tactical move to avoid confrontation with the Unit-
ed Stales or whether Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon truly had changed
to peace-making.
Many analysts saw the vote as the latest volley in a complex game of
diplomatic ping-pong, with each side maneuvering to throw the ball into
the other's court in hopes of exposing his-adversary's lack of commitme m
to the plan.
In a 12-7 vote, with four abstentions, Shaton's government voted to
accept tlae"steps seI out in the road map"for a phased ending of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict.
But the Cabinet also appended 14 reservations to the road map, which
the United States has agreed to "address."
The Cabinet also ruled out the Palestinian demand that refugees from
Israel's 1948 War of Independence and their descendants - several mil-
lion people in all - be granted a "fight of return'to their former homes
inside Israel.
Israelis see lifts as tantamount to calling for an end to the Jewish state.
Sharon had demallded - unsacssfully - that just as Israel was asked to
commit at the start of the process to the establishment of a Palestinian
state, the Palestinians shtmld be forced to forego the "fight of return"and
acknowledge in advance that refugees would be resettled only in the
future Palestmian state.
Still, Israel's acceptance was enough for officials to continue prepara-
tions for an anticipated June summit in Jordan with President Bush, the
Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Egypt and Jordan.
Sources in Jerusalem also said that a second bilateral meeting between
Sharon and his Palestinian Authority counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, is
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
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Southeastern Virginia Jewish News June 1,2003
Why is rebuilding of Iraq moving slowly?
By Barry Rubin
© The Jerusalem Post
Everyone of good will should
want the United States to succeed
in helping Iraqis enjoy peace,
freedom, prosperity, and stability.
Even people who opposed the
war should want this outcome for
the good of Iraq's people, the US,
and, indeed, everyone in the Mid-
dle East.
It should be obvious that the
US government has not had much
time to make progress on these
difficult issues. Yet as of today
the problems are increasingly not
ones of insufficient time but of
inadequate decision-making and
implementation. Yes, good plans
were made, but they have been
forgotten or deliberately tossed
aside.
What is needed now is not to
score partisan points against the
administration or re-fight old bat-
tles but to get the best possible
policy toward Iraq.
Things are not going well in
Iraq, many of the officials
involved are saying privately. It is
not too late to fix things, but crit-
ical decisions must be made and
implemented very soon. Iraqis
still welcoming the Ameri-
cans, but two more months of
paralysis is going to change this
situation for the worse.
The problem is not just lack of
time. Basic guidelines have not
been sufficiently set, while inter-
nal bickering among US govern-
ment agencies s dangerously
high. Decisions are being made
too slowly and reversed too often.
One official described what is
happening now as a "rush to fail-
ure." But it does not have to be
that way.
Let's examine some critical
issues briefly:
• Bottom up or top down? The
policy seems to be that every-
thing must wait until a nation-
al government is established, a
very difficult task whose
timetable is being pushed
back.
Candle Lighting
June 5/$tvan 5
Eve of Shavuot
Light candles at 8:00 p.m.
June 6/Sivan 6
SHAVUOT
Light candles at 8:01 p.m.
June 13/Sivan 13
Light candles at 8:04 p.m.
June 20/Sivan 20
Light candles at 8:07 p.m.
June 27/Slvan 27
Light candles at 8:08p.m.
Why not put the emphasis on
local governments, which can be
put together in most though not
all places very fast? This would
also have much more impact on
individual Iraqis, who want a
return to order.
• Getting people working and
paid. Not being able to do pro-
ductive work and receive
needed income is incredibly
demoralizing. Why not estab-
lish a basic but massive public
works program, paying every
Iraqi who wants to work a
minimum wage for clearing
the debris of war and perform-
ing basic services?
• Regional authorities to solve
ethnic issues. Given the deep
divisions between Sunni,
Shi'ite and Kurdish Iraqis,
why not immediately create a
system of regional govern-
ments where one group lives?
The existing Kurdish system
could be rognized officially
and Shi'ite or Sunni councils
could be set up in areas where
one group predominates. Disput-
ed or mixed areas would be kept
out of this system.
to Iraq's artistic community, or
sponsoring competitions among
writers on topics like "What free-
dom means to me" may seem
petty but would win the friend-
ship of key people for decades to
come.
• The Iraqi exiles question. So is
the US helping Ahmed Chal-
abi and other exiles to take a
leading role in Iraq, or is it
going to push them aside?
Make up your mind.
Once someone is designated
as a powerful figure with US sup °
port, that person's influence is
going to increase a lot. Even if
such designations are made only
for a transitional period and are
clearly not designed to impose a
new ruler the US must treat the
returned exiles properly.
They are being ignored and
humiliated at-present.
Coordination seems extremely
poor. This is an extremely bad
strategy, for if you are seen to be
mistreating existing allies, why
should anyone want to become
future allies?
Military versus civilian. The
problem is that the US military is
In such a situation, different being given the main job of man-
Shi'ite factions would have to jaging Iraq today while a nominal"
start competing among ly civilian authority is supposed
selves and deliyeringnefits to
their pepplerather than remain-
ingklle and targeting the US for
- their complaints.
The first step toward democra-
tic government must be represen-
tative government, meeting the
needs of individuals through their
interest groups.
• Humanitarian solutions. While
a major hunger or health crisis
has been avoided, the fact is
that restoring power and other
major systems has gone too
slowly. The US mustrush to
send in generators and other
things to benefit Iraq's people
in an all-out mobilization, as
would be done in response to a
natural disaster.
The truth is and people within
the US government know it that
sufficient supplies and equipment
have not been available.
• Winning the intellectuals. In a
situation like this the role of
Iraqi intellectuals is vital.
Small steps can be of huge
future importance and cultural
diplomacy becomes vital.
How about appealing to the
American people, through non-
governmental organizations, to
build direct connections to key
groups in Iraq?
For example, a few thousand
dollars worth of art supplies sent
to run things without the assets to
do so.
who's in charge and how will
they coordinate? We must not
fool ourselves that this is working
properly. There are also well-
known policy differences
between the State and Defense
departments problems that had
better be ironed out fight now.
Again, it is not too late to save
the situation, but success requires
a change in strategy and the cur-
rent° weak implementation. The
difficulties do not arise from the
American soldiers and all-too"
few civilian workers on the scene
but from the highest levels of the
US government and from inter"
agency feuds.
It is no exaggeration to say
that the future of the Middle East
depends on President George W'.
Bush straightening out this situa"
tion right now by making clear
decisions and picking an undiS"
puted chain of command to
implement them.
The writer is director of the
Global Research in International
Affairs (GLORIA) Center and
editor of the Middle East RevieVe
of International Affairs ( MERIA)
Journal, part of the lnterdiscipli"
narv Center Herzliya (IDC). Hi. s
mo't recent book is The Trage ea
of the Middle East.