Bush on Israel: Heartburn for All - article by Daniel Pipes


Pipes questions Bush's consistency on the Palestinian State issue and takes Bush to task for seeming uncharacteristic flip-flopping. Although he has concerns, he does feel Bush is on the right track:

[...]Observing these contradictions through two years of the Bush administration leads me to one main conclusion: In key ways - sympathy for Israel's plight, diplomatic support, providing arms - Bush tends to ignore his own Palestinian-state rhetoric and stand solidly with Israel. His statements demanding this from Israel and promising that to the Palestinians appear to be a sop to outside pressure, not operational policy.


In short, look at what President Bush does, not what he says, and you'll find his usual consistency, this time hiding under a veneer of apparent indecision.


If this is accurate, then the road map is for show, not true policy, and U.S. endorsement of a Palestinian state remains remote.

I believe that Bush remains committed to the creation of a Palestinian state AFTER the conditions are right for the creation of a state with a government that will strive to live in peace with Israel. In my view, he has a very clear vision of what he believes must occur if Israel and the Palestinians are to co exist in peace and he is working on that. That is one of the reasons he is taking on Iraq now and will soon start working on Syria and Iran. Until these governments eliminate state sponsored actions to destroy Israel, he knows that neither peace for Israel nor the end of terror for us will occur.