Seeking a Mideast Path, Bush Offers a Nudge

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"WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 — It might seem, after nearly seven years of deliberate detachment from Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, that President Bush has plunged into Middle Eastern diplomacy with Clintonesque energy.
In fact, Mr. Bush and his aides still deplore what they view as President Clinton’s disastrously hands-on involvement in the peace process in 2000. And they insist that Mr. Bush does not intend to negotiate personally the two-state peace he has pronounced as his vision, just as they insist that this is not an 11th-hour effort to forge a legacy other than the one left by the Iraq war.

“The United States cannot impose our vision,” Mr. Bush told the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, in the Oval Office on Monday, before saying, and sounding, again, Clintonesque, “but we can help facilitate.”"

                           New York Times, November 27, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/washington/27prexy.html?_r=1&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/M/Myers,%20Steven%20Lee&oref=slogin

The Annapolis gathering that was held on Wednesday, nov.26 was another attempt to bring the Israeli- Palestinian conflict back into notice again. Thus it is not the first time that a third party is trying to initiate the peace process between the two sides of the conflict. Clinton while in the office of presidency had done such a thing in the so-called Camp David conference. But a great shift of position has occurred.

In the Camp David Conference Clinton acted as the leader of the negotiations while this time President Bush has claimed he tries only to “facilitate” the negotiations. In other words, the Camp David was held by the leadership of America while today’s Annapolis is held by the “support” of America. One of the reasons for this great shift would be the increasing hatred of the Arab world of America because of its full support of Israel that has occupied a Muslim and Arab country. In order to decrease this hostility, bush is trying to show America as a neutral country that hopes to end the conflicts between the two countries. But the positions that American officials have taken so far have made it clear for all too see America on Israel’s side. Thus no one is actually expecting a result with a positive effect on the conflict from this conference, even the participants themselves. So what was the purpose behind this action?

As one of the purpose, America is showing Arab- Israeli relationships as normal. That’s why many pressures have been put on Arab states to participate in the gathering. Among other Arab nations, Saudi Arabia was of highest importance for America because since then Saudi Arabian officials had refused any conference about the Palestine issue in which Israel was one of the sides of negotiations.
Another goal that America tries to reach is isolating Iran on this issue. Since the 1979 revolution in Iran, Iranian officials have expressed their support of Palestinian people and their anger toward the Israeli occupiers. This position held by Iran has affected the issue by bringing the presence of the Israeli government under question. These effects were not appealing to Israelis. America, as the main supporter of Israel, wants to show that Iran is isolated and its positions toward the issue have little effect, and in this way to help Israelis to become relieved of one of their major concerns and worries.