Just as in 2006, when Bush supported the failed effort to fight back against the Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon, the administration understood that being evenhanded about the response to terror was a diplomatic code phrase for stopping Israel from defending itself.
What’s more, after Israel’s capture of a ship filled with Iranian arms sent to assist the Palestinian attacks, Bush finally did what his predecessor would not. He rightly branded Arafat an unrepentant terrorist and cut off American aid and diplomatic contact with him. Bush then went on to state that peace could only come once the Palestinians rejected terror and the leadership of those who support terror.
Was that a mistake? Can anyone really believe that continuing Clinton’s urging for more concessions to Arafat would have brought peace?
Of course, Bush did make some serious mistakes after cutting off Arafat. Following the old terrorist’s death, his wholehearted embrace of Mahmoud Abbas led him to repeat some of Clinton’s errors.
Abbas, Arafat’s longtime aide, looked more respectable, but was no better than his mentor and was powerless to boot. Bush’s decision to push Abbas to allow elections that were then won by Hamas was another blunder. And in the last year of his presidency, Bush has abandoned Middle East policy to Powell’s successor Condoleezza Rice, who seems determined to re-enact the follies of Clinton’s final year in office.
As Israel prepares to elect new leadership and faces apocalyptic threats from Iran, with no assurance that the international community will act responsibly, the next U.S. president must avoid falling into the trap of believing that every Bush precedent is to be overturned.
It isn’t really important whether Bush gets credit for doing the right thing about Arafat and backing Sharon’s tough policies, which defeated Palestinian terror. What is important is to learn the lessons not only from Bush’s mistakes but also those of his predecessor.
If the next administration is staffed by people who embrace the Clinton administration’s delusions about Palestinian intentions, we can expect the same results we got the last time: more bloodshed.