Today's "Winds of War" is brought to you by M. Simon, a frequent guest blogger here at Winds of Change.NET. Because the incoming format was slightly different, we've divided the report into independent sections (Wider War | Iraq | Roadmap | Iran).
What's Wrong With the Roadmap?
by M. Simon
What is wrong with the road map? I'll give you a hint: it is not being followed.
The first step was to be free and fair elections in the Arafat controlled territories. These elections were supposed to happen in January, but no later than May 31st. They did not happen, and apparently will not. Why? Because Yasser Arafat said they could not while Israel was fighting terrorists in the territories.
Of course Yasser did nothing to rein in the Palestinian National Suicide Bomb Squads. So no elections.
Well there was an election actually. One man, one vote. It turns out that in Palestinian elections, one man's vote is enough for victory. Yasser elected Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian Prime Minister. So instead of running things directly, Mr. Arafat now has to pull the strings of his puppet. Not exactly in conformance with American policy relative to the road map.
I suppose the importance of this is that at least we are on the road even if it is the wrong map.
We need a new term of political derision: Roadmapping. (Once upon a time, in the Carter years, this would have been "frameworking," but that was then.)
Roadmapping is the practice of preparing fictitious peace plans that everyone knows cannot be executed, because the road -- the ideological infrastructure for them -- does not exist and cannot be built any time soon. The point of roadmapping is cosmetic, and sometimes financial (i.e., to get foreign aid to continue or resume). The effect of roadmapping is what Dr. Samuel Johnson called "the general degradation of human testimony"; with each nod to the counterfactual by statesmen and interest-group pleaders, the general public becomes less willing to believe anything they might say in the future.
The ideological infrastructure for a comprehensive peace between Israelis and Palestinians is mutual respect, however grudging. This cannot be conjured into existence. It has to grow over time, with trade, the development of endurance for differing customs and traditions, and the forcible suppression of violence.
Inasmuch as the Israelis have been doing everything in their power to promote that growth, and the Palestinians' "leaders" have been doing everything in their power to prevent it -- the evidence of this is copious; I shan't trouble to repeat it all here and now -- we cannot expect any progress in the near term. When the Palestinians finally accept that Israel is here to stay and cease to preach its destruction, the growth can begin.