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MPAC comment - November 30, 2007
What good was Annapolis Mideast summit?
After the half-hearted anticipation which surrounded this week's Annapolis conference, the high-level meeting between President Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas produced less than a remarkable outcome.
As the conference took place, Hamas followers protested Abbas's outreach to an Israeli government that has denied Palestinians basic human rights, while Abbas's supporters emerged in favor of their leader's efforts at peacemaking. With such polarized attitudes present in one group of people, how is the international community, let alone the leadership involved in negotiations, supposed to proceed on the road to peace?
The talks, attended by forty-some countries and hosted by the United States at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., were described by many observers as a photo-op, a last minute attempt by the Bush administration to make progress on an issue it deliberately held at arm's length for seven years.
The Annapolis conference should have been a top priority for the Bush administration early in its first term. Muslims and other Americans alike deserved an initial practical commitment from President Bush to usher in a new era of Middle East relations.
As Muslims and Americans, we have a vested interest in a lasting commitment to peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Firstly, the nuance and depth of this conflict is an absolute test of physical, spiritual, and emotional fortitude, each of which has failed to result in a comprehensive resolution. The religious principles of sensibility and the call for individuals to live their lives with higher ethical and moral wisdom have been abandoned or distorted. As Muslims, we must seek accountability from our leaders on the grounds of justice when inequality is being practiced as the norm and not the exception.
Secondly, as Americans, we are part of the larger image that our country exhibits around the world. Efforts to restore that image have been delayed. However, we can be an active part of initiating that process by holding our elected leaders accountable and putting pressure on the administration to demonstrate a hands-on approach to conflict resolution.
Justice must be the basis of all negotiations at the state and community levels in order to guarantee peace for Palestine. Negotiations must be defined by a political willingness to cement a final agreement on the right of return, the status of Jerusalem, four million displaced refugees, ongoing settlement construction, and the final borders of a Palestinian state. Palestinians deserve a state to call their own, with full human and civil rights bestowed upon every citizen, recognized unanimously by the international community.
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