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Twisting in the Breeze

© lawhawk

Twisting in the Breeze

Well the last few weeks have been pretty busy ones in the Middle East. The UN and US got tweaked once again by Iraq's President Saddam Hussein. He essentially stopped any and all inspections from occurring that might lead to his suspected weapons of mass destruction development program only to turn around and allow UN Inspectors back into his country. This of course was the direct result of knowing that the US had bombers in the air ready to launch attacks against sites of military importance and that his Arab neighbors are tired of putting up with his nonsense.

The Israelis, after much debate and vacillation have agreed to turn over land designated by the Wye Plantation Accord to the Palestinian Authority. This comes right after a number of right wing members of the Knesset tried to get Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu to back down from the agreement.

Both situations point to the fact that the Palestinians and the US are tied to policies that are reactionary rather than proactive. By this I would suggest that the US needs to take steps to prevent having to deal with Iraq in 2-3 months time over the ability to search for weapons of mass destruction. There needs to be a better way of dealing with Saddam's temper tantrums every time he feels that it is time to test the will of the UN and US to maintain sanctions. Sanctions have been in place since 1991 to prevent Iraq from putting together weapons of mass destruction but have had the unintended consequence of causing tremendous harm to the Iraqi public while the leadership is insulated from the economic impact.

The Palestinian Authority also needs to use a more proactive and conciliatory position that will not incite the Israelis into making rash decisions in response. It appears that the Palestinians have gotten into the habit of suggesting that they are going to unilaterally declare independence in May every time there is a stalemate in the peace process. The first time the Palestinians use this threat it sounds convincing, but the threat sounds less convincing after it has been used often.

If you have any ideas as to what the Palestinians or the US should do in furthering the peace process in the Middle East, please be sure to add your comments to the discussion area.

In a personal note, I would like to apologize to my readers for not having posted articles for the last few weeks. I was quite busy with school work and in particular with the American Bar Association Law Student Division Negotiations Regional Competition. The competition occurred this past weekend and my team placed second in the region and we're waiting to hear back whether we have advanced to the finals (to be held in Los Angeles in February).