Bush has divided the Palestinian people into two governments

george looks to re-start the middle east peace process... (seems to me iraq could benefit from having one in the first place...)

President Bush launched a diplomatic effort yesterday to revive the long-moribund Middle East peace process, announcing aid to the Palestinian government and calling for an international conference this fall aimed at paving the way for the creation of a Palestinian state side by side with Israel.

Five years after becoming the first president to fully embrace a "two-state solution," Bush acknowledged that it remains distant after violent clashes that have politically sundered the Palestinian territories. But Bush called this a "moment of choice" for the region and renewed his commitment heading into his final 18 months in office.

"Recent days have brought a chapter of upheaval and uncertainty in the Middle East," Bush said in a speech in the main foyer of the White House. "But the story does not have to end that way. . . . In the face of terror and cynicism and anger, we stand on the side of peace in the Holy Land."

now, for a slightly different take on bush's "revived" approach...

The President continued to base his policy on deepening the division among Palestinians, on pre-conditions to a two-state solution, and on an unwillingness to outline his own parameters for an Israeli-Palestinian endgame deal. Even the $190 million dollars of money pledged to the new PA government is mostly a repackaging of old commitments.

In most respects today was a rehash of his speech five years ago, albeit under less propitious circumstances. That speech encouraged a regime change that eventually (and one imagines inadvertently) brought Hamas to power -- the new speech may well drive Palestinian politics towards a period of even greater chaos that could create a space for al-Qaeda look-a-likes to gain a foothold.

The President continued to mistakenly conflate Hamas with al-Qaeda and the Taliban and, in so doing, almost guarantees the failure of his approach. In Iraq American policy is belatedly focusing on internal political reconciliation, but in Palestine it is still, sadly, all about deepening divisions.

and still ANOTHER take... (as a side note, i think it's highly debatable that internal political reconciliation has become a focus in iraq... that may be the official verbiage, but bush administration actions don't support it in any way...)

Israeli officials welcomed Bush's conference plan yesterday, but Hamas mocked the notion. "The promise to form a Palestinian state is old," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, according to the Associated Press. "It will not be implemented. The opposite, instead, has happened. Instead of two states, he has divided our people into two governments."

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