Clinton (Bill) as Mideast peace negotiator?
BY World's Editorials Writers
Friday, November 23, 2012
11/23/12 at 4:12 AM
Clinton as peacemaker in the Middle East? Bill, not Hillary.
Hillary is still the Secretary of State, but it was Bill, the former president, who Sen. John McCain suggested might be the person to forge some sort of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
The latest installment of the ongoing war between the Israelis and Palestinians has again put the Mideast on edge.
With all the other turmoil in the region, especially in Syria, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict becomes even more important and more dangerous.
Both Clintons have some experience in the Mideast. The former president convened leaders from Israel and the Palestinian Authority at Camp David.
Secretary of State Clinton has been heavily involved in this latest conflict as well as in the Syrian uprising.
In negotiations earlier this week, Secretary of State Clinton, with the help of Egypt, pushed through a cease-fire agreement that might or might not hold.
What, exactly, was the motive behind McCain's suggestion is unclear.
One would like to believe that he is doing what he thinks is best for all countries involved and maybe even sending a message to President Obama that he can be bipartisan when it's important. Cynics would see it as purely political.
History is clear on this issue. Good men and women have tried to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian problem.
Some, including President Jimmy Carter, have come close to succeeding. All have, in the end, failed.
Until the Palestinians (along with most of the Mideast) acknowledges Israel's right to be there, and even to exist, and until Israel acknowledges the same right to the Palestinians and ends its expansion of settlements into what should be Palestinian land, no one will ever bring peace to the Mideast.
Original Print Headline: The fixer?
