munaeem | 06 April, 2007 03:35
IT is unfortunate that the Bush administration and Israel should have adopted a negative attitude towards House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s current visit aimed at reviving the Arab-Israeli peace process. A strong critic of the Bush administration’s Middle East policy, Speaker Pelosi represents ideas that were factors in the Democrats’ victory in last November’s mid-term elections. After meeting Mr Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Wednesday, Ms Pelosi said she was happy to note that the Syrian president was willing to resume peace talks with Israel, because “we expressed our interest in using our good offices” for promoting peace between Damascus and Tel Aviv. However, Vice-President Dick Cheney and the White House have lambasted Ms Pelosi and felt piqued by her remark that the “road to Damascus is a road to peace”. Her visit, said Mr Cheney, would reward President Assad instead of punishing him for his “bad behaviour” which, according to him, included support for terrorism.
While the White House condemned the Pelosi visit to Damascus, observers have noted the absence of similar criticism against some Republicans who also visited Syria recently, though the administration officials claim to have privately rebuked the Republicans for their visit. Ms Pelosi says her visit has been inspired by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group’s report, which pleads for a pullout from Iraq and for “engaging” Syria and Iran in seeking a solution to the Iraqi crisis.
President Bush has already rejected the ISG recommendations for a pullout by September next year and has no intention of talking to Damascus and Tehran. A similar negative reaction has come from Israel to Ms Pelosi’s visit, using the terrorism rhetoric to avoid resuming peace talks with Syria, whose Golan Heights it occupied in the 1967 war and later annexed. Even though not part of the US administration, Ms Pelosi’s offer of “our good offices” is significant in that it indicates the policy of a future Democratic administration, since it is highly unlikely that a Republican will win the 2008 race to the White House. One hopes the Democrats will continue to maintain their present stance on the Arab-Israeli conflict and not revert to the pro-Israeli policy which all American governments irrespective of party affiliations have followed.
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