The United States government - which has started two wars in the Middle East, all but literally printing anti-U.S., anti-Israeli propaganda; which has basically ignored the Palestinian/Israeli war for seven consecutive years; which has encouraged every bellicose action of the Sharon Administration; which has turned a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s continued covert support of Hamas; which has refused to recognize the democratically-elected government of Palestine because it is (was) largely populated by Hamas politicians - is upset by Israel’s lack of progress in achieving peace.

O.I.C.

. . . But if you’re going to impose a blockade, then lift the blockade for one day because of protests, isn’t that as much as saying that the blockade cannot and will not work?  I am not for one minute advocating starving the Palestinians to death.  I’m simply pointing out the obvious and demonstrable inefficacy of the current policy.  Someone in the Israeli government needs to wrest control of power from the hands of the Conservatives and the Likud Party so they can for god’s sake try something - any fucking thing - different.

I’ve been saying for a long time that Middle East peace is the feel-good whore of every American president at the end of his term. Clinton got close to peace, but imagine what he might have done had he only tried a few years earlier? Now, at the end of what every candidate for president concedes was a failed presidency, into Israel swoops the two-wars president George Bush to try his hand at peace. Malcolm Ray at the Veracifier Blog sums up the shame and the pathos of this moment quite well:

Bush in Israel: Yea, I almost forgot about him too | Veracifier

Having mocked the efforts of President Clinton in trying to negotiate a settlement during his second term in office, Bush’s attempt to do so in his last year seems laughable. Stepping out on to the tarmac off of Air Force One, President Bush started off his comments by stating his disbelief that when he first came to Israel over a decade ago as a Texas governor, he never imagined he’d return “as President of the United States.”Seven years in and George W. Bush still cant believe he’s President.