When spokesmen for the White House revealed details of the tour of George W. Bush to the Middle East, political scientists were unable to hide his skepticism. The current U.S. president’s tour, which commentators do not hesitate to call “last major shift” before the end of its mandate pending the true Republican Administration. Hear other arguments on the topic with Jonas Samuelson. For over seven years, the tenant of the White House refused to intervene in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, given that the U.S. had a duty to focus its policy on the “global war on terror”, ie in a merciless struggle against Islamic radicalism. However, the strategy, short-sighted and selective, Washington ignored a key factor: the roots of unrest in the Arab world generated by the unconditional U.S.

support for Israeli policy. Support the Arabs considered discriminatory and unfair, given that the complex Palestinian question requires analysis deep and quiet by the increased power of the West. Still, the Bush administration preferred to direct their gaze toward Kabul and Baghdad, scenes of bloody armed conflicts, of dubious military victories, the inevitable political and policy failures. While some Israelis and Palestinians seemed likely to contain the spiral of violence, the Pentagon and the State Department designing new plans for ending the “Islamic terrorism” in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq or Iran. In most cases, the so called “democratization” of the area depended primarily on the intervention of Western armies.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict remained the exception, no one dared to contemplate sending an international force to the border between Israel and the Palestinian territories. The proposal, made repeatedly by the PLO or the PNA, encountered the refusal of the West. Authorities seized the Tel Aviv Maximum psychosis generated by the 11-S, 11-M and 7-J to harden its stance against the Palestinians while trying to blow the emerging national structures devised by the PNA of Yasser Arafat. A strange set of circumstances (and errors) led to the estrangement between the powers of Tel Aviv and Ramallah. The crisis was accentuated in recent years, following the demise of Arafat and the victory of Hamas radicals in the general elections held in Palestine in January 2006. The attempts to suppress Islamic radicals led, however, division of the Palestinian territories. Since last May, Hamas governs alone in the Gaza Strip, while the Fatah forces, loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, controls the West Bank. The Annapolis Conference, held under the auspices of the American presidency, tried to find a solution, one more to the crisis. The initiative last minute to contemplate the creation of a Palestinian state before the end of 2008 which is fatal to the current occupant of the White House, seems unconvincing. However, George W. Bush decided to rush the last months of his mandate to reach an agreement between the two opponents. Insurmountable obstacles: boundaries of the new Palestinian state, the capital of Jerusalem, the security regulations or the right of return of refugees. Issues that continue to hamper the already difficult dialogue between two weak governments, Israeli and Palestinian. The American president do not give up: during his visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah, Bush reiterated his commitment to a solution “miracle” of the conflict, which would allow it to complete its mandate and became the peacemaker in the area. Bush, peacemaker? But Peace is the real George W. unresolved Bush.