PRESERVING CREDIBILITY:

Summit Talk: While Bush and Sharon spelled out their differences, White House aides were upbeat about Israel’s plans to withdraw from Gaza. (Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey, 4/13/05, Newsweek)

[W]hile the rest of the world focused on the tension between Bush and Sharon, behind the scenes the mood among White House aides was far more upbeat. Sharon first discussed his disengagement plan—and the annexing of parts of the West Bank—with Elliott Abrams, Bush’s hawkish White House adviser on the Middle East, in November 2003. At the time, the security situation in Iraq had worsened significantly and the Gaza pullout looked like a breakthrough in the region. Today, the White House is once again counting on the Gaza withdrawal as a critical step in its self-styled march of freedom across the Middle East. White House aides say they believe the pullout will proceed “smoother than anticipated” with little resistance from Israeli settlers who will be uprooted (some of them forcibly).

The real focus of U.S. attention, they say, is violence and lawlessness among Palestinians in Gaza following the settlers’ departure. “The security of Gaza after the Israelis leave is of great concern to us,” said one White House aide. That’s why the most anticipated set of talks for President Bush are the ones being scheduled next month with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Those concerns were heightened when disaffected Palestinian militants went on the rampage in Ramallah last month, shooting at shops and restaurants as Abbas tried to consolidate his control of security forces in the West Bank.

As for Bush himself, the prospect of a self-governing Palestinian territory in Gaza has become the critical test for the peace process. Where he once insisted the critical test for the Palestinians was to close down terrorist groups, Bush now seems to take a far more practical and realistic approach. “I want to focus the world’s attention on getting it right in the Gaza,” Bush told reporters, “and then all of a sudden, people will start to say, gosh, well, that makes sense.”

When the President leans on the Prime Minister publicly it gives us greater credibility with the Arabs and Mr. Sharon greater credibility with the Israeli Right. It's good for everybody.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 14, 2005 7:42 PM