One of the best articles I’ve read in a long time, published in a relatively mainstream American media outlet. Just watch the ad to read the article without subscribing.
“But both the Palestinians and the Israelis I talked to agreed that there was one party who could break the deadlock: the United States. ‘It’s like two people fighting,’ Yehuda said. ‘You need someone from the outside to step in and break it up.’ Every Palestinian I talked to agreed — but most had become so despairing of a reasonable U.S. policy that they didn’t even bother to bring it up. Clearly they’d grown weary of grasping at vain hopes. Mention of Bush brought a bitter grimace, sometimes the dark smile of a gunfighter. This man is detested.”
I spoke to my daughter who lives in Tel Aviv, immediately after the Yassin assassination. She essentially made the same point: most Israelis are so despairing that they have almost reached a point of apathy. They avoid trying to deal with the reality around them because they feel totally helpless and that they can change nothing. The vacuum of visionary leadership is poisonous, and leaves the stage open for extremism on both sides.
I would argue the United States doesn’t even have to proactively mediate a solution. Bush & Co have given Sharon a freer hand than any previous US President has given to any previous Israeli Prime Minister. The result has been an unmitigated disaster. Considering that US tax money essentially funds the settlement project and the occupation, American taxpayers need to rise up and say: enough!