I sensed something was slightly unreal about the Jordanian capital Amman when I was there on Monday. The distorted reality, I quickly discovered, reflected the presence in town of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose Middle East diplomatic efforts increasingly look like a self-deceiving world of mirrors and make-believe. As she intensified the elusive search for "moderate Sunni Arabs to share in her adventure, Rice also launched a process of "parallel talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders who have gotten nowhere talking to each other once every few months. To overcome the chronic stalemate of bilateral Palestinian-Israeli diplomacy, she is now expanding this into a trilateral failure, as the principal parties who won't talk to each other only to talk to her. It's hard to decide if this is a comedy or a horror show. The most galling thing about Rice's and Washington's approach is its fundamental dishonesty. The Bush administration spent its first six years avoiding any serious engagement in the Arab-Israeli conflict, or decisively siding with the Israelis on most key contested points, like refugees, security or settlements. Now - with little time left for Rice, President George W. Bush on the ropes, his administration in tatters, America's army in trouble in Iraq, Washington's credibility shattered in the region and around the world, and the Middle East slipping into greater strife and dislocation - we are asked to believe that she will dedicate her remaining time in office to securing the establishment of a Palestinian state. Does Rice take us in the Arab world for robotic idiots - simply another generation of hapless Arabs who have no options and must go along docilely with every American-Israeli initiative, no matter how insulting, insincere, or desperate it may be? This initiative is all three. The Rice approach is not serious because she does not prod Arabs and Israelis simultaneously to comply with the rule of law and United Nations resolutions. Instead, in her hasty and insincere diplomatic fishing expedition she casts her net wide in an attempt to catch enough "moderate Sunni Arabs to play by American-Israeli rules. This is a direct consequence of two trends in the region for which the US must share much blame: the invasion and collapse of Iraq into sectarian strife that has started to spread throughout the region; and the persistence of pro-Israeli American policies for some four decades now, which have ultimately contributed to the birth of massive Arab Islamist movements that oppose Israel, side with Iran, and defy the US. Now, Israel and the US suddenly, magically, express interest in the 2002 Arab peace plan, after ignoring it for the past five years, and they claim to seek a coalition of "moderate Sunni Arabs who would take steps to improve it. The Arab plan, unanimously approved by the Arab states, offered to achieve permanent peace and coexistence with Israel in return for Israel's returning the lands it occupied in 1967 and resolving the Palestine refugee issue through negotiations based on UN resolutions. Israel and the US want the Arabs to make more concessions, gestures and overtures even before Israel has made reciprocal moves of equal magnitude. They want all Arab governments, including the Hamas-led Palestinian government that was formed after democratic elections, to pledge recognition of Israel before they can even be engaged as legitimate players in the peace-making game. The problem with this approach is that it has been tried for 40 years, since the 1967 war, and it has consistently failed, because it does not tackle the legitimate needs of both sides at the same time. Notably, Israel's peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt succeeded because both sides made gestures and concessions that were reciprocal and simultaneous, always anchored in the spirit and letter of UN resolutions. Rice will surely find a few "moderate Sunni Arabs, for ours is a region rich in mercantile traditions, full of people ready for a deal. But those who buy into Rice's American and Israeli rules will be so isolated and discredited, that they will represent few people beyond their guards, business partners, and cousins - a large cohort in many Arab lands, but not a credible basis for lasting peace. Rice should stop futilely searching for "moderate Sunni Arabs, who will be discredited by their association with her Israeli-centric approach to peace-making. She would do better to look for some law-abiding Israelis who would be prepared to repeat with Palestine, Syria and Lebanon the sort of balanced, negotiated peace Israel signed with Jordan and Egypt. The Arabs made a serious peace offer in 2002. Israel has not. It's time for the US to stop fishing and fantasizing, and instead to work seriously for peace and justice for all in the Middle East, so it can help stop the rot that threatens the region and America's plummeting standing in the world. ........... Rami G. Khouri writes a twice-weekly commentary for THE DAILY STAR.
