Building institutions for the Palestinians and bringing the two sides closer to an agreement demands a long-term commitment to move forward in baby steps. Keep dreams in a vault and focus on the day-to-day 'management of the conflict' to save lives and ease the pressure—and wait for a better opportunity. The appointment of Blair—a world celebrity with an ego to match—to mediate the conflict is meant to bring more attention, more money, and a higher profile to heal the bleeding wound. But the higher the profile, the higher the expectations, and as was proved at Camp David, the higher the expectations, the more painful the failure to fulfill them.
I often disagree with Rosner, and hope he is wrong here. Baby steps (too often with a baby's sense of direction) have not worked in Israel/Palestine since the assassination of Rabin. I continue to wonder whether Clinton's final push might have worked if the clock had not run out, and if the Arab states (with more adroit American diplomacy) had put more pressure on Arafat to make a deal. The "conservative" Arab regimes now have reason for concerted action in response to growing Shi'a power and influence (and their own fragility), and Blair potentially has some time to work. I'm hoping for better, but not betting on it.
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