I don't know what it is about the Middle East or about being President of the United States, but the two seem to be attracted to each other in a bizarre, and dangerous, way. Ever since Israel became a nation in 1948, the United States has been involved in the Middle East, a region that we had never paid much attention to.
Why have we paid so much attention to this little strip of land between the Jordan and the sea? There is no oil in the area, it's not a large country, nor is it an economic powerhouse. Oh, Israel is a first world country, and the only democracy in a region of autocracies, for that reason alone Israel deserves the support of the United States, especially since Israel is surrounded on all sides by hostile nations.
Our support for Israel goes back to 1948, and our desire to see peace in the region goes back to 1979, when President Carter hosted the Camp David accords, in which Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty. Now let's be honest, the Camp David accords are not a model of what a peace treaty should be. Israel had to give up the Sinai peninsula, and the we had to pay Egypt two billion dollars a year in bribery money to keep the peace and not break the treaty. And just in case they did break the treaty we gave Israel three billion a year to defend themselves against the Egyptians and other Arab states.
Now the focus is on the Palestinians. I don't really know what a Palestinian is, he looks like an Arab, talks like an Arab, and acts like an Arab. He's an Arab used as a political propaganda tool by his Arab brethren to keep up the hatred against the Jews. During the 1948 invasion of Israel millions of Arabs fled and have become perpetual refugees. They are forced to live in squalor when these Arab nations could have easily abosrbed them into their country. But they needed to keep the dream of vengeance alive and promised these refugees(and their descendants) that one day they will return and kill all the Jews and take their property for themselves, it will be the happy days of the 7th century all over again.
It's not hard to get an Arab to Hate a Jew. The Koran is probably the most anti Jewish book in the world(aside from Mein Kampf, but while the ideas of Mein Kampf have been discredited and abandoned, the teachings of the Koran have endured) and the Arab autocracies need scapegoats, or their people might turn their attention to their rulers.
So why would any American President want to get involved in this ancient, unending, blood feud? I would guess that the President would have bigger things to do, like running the United States, or leading the war against Islamic terrorists? But, like another two term President who was a lame duck, President Bush believes that he can bring peace to two peoples who have never been at peace, the Arabs are commanded to hate Jews and fight them to the end, and the Jews aren't going to allow themselves to be victimized by raging Arab hordes. So what can be done?
The short and simple answer is nothing. Any agreement Abbas makes is worse than worthless. He already has lost control over his own people, and if he were to sign a two state solution with the Israelis he wouldn't live very long to celebrate it. Egyptian President Sadat, who reclaimed Egyptian territory and secured American money at the negotiating table(most would call that a diplomatic victory), was killed by extremists for making peace with the Jews. That was enough to forfeit his life.
Israel is not going to allow millions of fake refugees, people who have no more claim to Israel than I have claim to the land my ancestors lived on, they shouldn't give up Jerusalem and they aren't taking down the security wall. That wall has kept them safe from the constant attacks of suicide bombers, letting the refugees back would wipe out Israel under an Arab tidal wave.
Israel will never have peace with the Palestinians until the palestinians actually want peace. It doesn't matter how many Presidents try to make them play nice.
