US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wants to be the 21st century's first Middle East peacemaker. But the most glamorous secretary of state in American history has yet to show she is ready to put in the hard work necessary for the job.
Secretary Rice still hopes to relaunch the long moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process at the Annapolis conference on the shores of Chesapeake Bay next month. The odds are overwhelmingly against her. Seven years of far-from-benign neglect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a contrasting obsession with conquering and holding Iraq have eroded US standing and credibility throughout the Arab world. The United States no longer confidently bestrides the region in the role of unchallenged global superpower as it did between the collapse of Communism and the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas lacks the force and respect that Yasser Arafat brought to the position amongst his people. Hamas has wiped out Fatah and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Gaza, and even the PA's grip on the West Bank is feeble and waning, though both Israel and the United States appear oblivious to this development. Behind Iran and Syria looms the growing shadow of a resurgent Russia that is blithely arming them both.
Yet faced with these gathering storm clouds, Rice still shows no inclination to revert to the excellent and usually highly successful practice of shuttle diplomacy around the warring regional capitals, instituted by former secretary of state Henry Kissinger after the 1973 War of Ramadan - or the Yom Kippur War to Israelis - and followed by every successful US secretary of state in dealing with the region ever since.
Even well-meaning, dutiful old Warren Christopher followed the shuttle track to keep the Oslo peace process on course through president Bill Clinton's first term. It was his prima donna successor, Madeleine Albright's refusal to dirty her hands with the hard work and drudgery involved in holding regional leaders' feet to the fire week after week and month after month that ended the practice.
For all the confidence and clout she enjoys with President George W. Bush, Rice has yet to give Middle East leaders the sense that she has prioritized their problems and is determined to force through peace proposals, come what may. No one expects the present secretary of state to stay engaged once the razzle dazzle of Annapolis has passed. It will be left to those loyal and dutiful workhorses, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Welch to traipse around the region, but they lack the standing of a secretary of state who is personally backed by the president of the United States.
It is time for Rice to do what she has not yet done and start shuttling between Jerusalem and Damascus, Ramallah and Gaza. Until then, all the rhetoric of Annapolis will not be worth a hill of beans. Those stylish boots of yours were made for walking, Madame Secretary.
Editorial: Walk the walk, Madame Secretary
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