Make Your Legacy, Make Peace in the Middle East
By Dr. Muqtedar Khan
University of Delaware
To
Vice President-Elect, Joseph Biden
Let us be honest, after decades of foreign policy involvement you do not have any significant foreign policy achievement that will be remembered. Experience and competence do not in themselves constitute achievements. You need something major to convert a distinguished career into a memorable one. (The Internet, alas, has already been invented.)
President-Elect Obama will concentrate first on stabilizing the economy and then he will turn to Iraq and Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran – his own axis of crisis. You have a choice, either to limit yourself to being his man-Friday on the above issues, or in addition to helping him, you can expand your role to include an exclusive Biden-track of diplomacy that could lead to glory. I am recommending that you become the point-man on the Middle East Peace process. This is one way in which you can serve both your president and your legacy.
Resolution of the Palestinian problem is the Rosetta Stone of US relations with the rest of the Arab and the Muslim World. It will truly bring change and forever transform US relations with the Muslim World. It will reduce hostilities, the incentive for violence and terrorism and not only make US and Israel secure but also expedite political reform and economic development in the Middle East. American credibility will increase and it will find it much easier to lead the world away from the chaos left by the Bush administration.
The US is essential to the peace process and all players involved need it. Israel needs the US to provide it with security guarantees now and in the future. It needs the billions of dollars in economic and military aid that it receives every year. It needs access to the US technology to sustain its economy and prosperity. Israel needs the US and its leverage and goodwill with major Arab states like Egypt and Jordan, to be accepted in the region and maintain its peace with them.
The Palestinians need the US too. When Palestinians misbehave they suffer the full force of Israeli military, and suspension of international aid from the US and Europe. When some Palestinians resort to terror, all Palestinians are punished. When Israel fails to fulfill its obligations, such as its commitment to stop building illegal settlements, there are absolutely no consequences. Palestinians need the US to make Israel adhere to the path of peace.
Our idea of peacemaking so far has been to pressure the Palestinians to comply with Israeli demands without ever demanding that Israel live up to its promises and obligations. This is where change is needed.
The US as a peace broker is handicapped by the enormous influence of some pro-Israeli Americans who want the US to provide not only unlimited, but unconditional and uncritical support for Israel. And most American politicians, as you very well understand, have not dared to challenge them. One of the few exceptions to this rule has been Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.
Over the years you have proven to be one of Israel's best friends. You have declared that you are a Zionist, but one who can distinguish between Israel and the Israeli lobby. You have always defended Israel, even its use of cluster bombs, but you have not always voted in accordance with the wishes of the Israeli lobby.
The point is simple; you have proved that you are a strong friend of Israel and yet not a patsy of the Israeli lobby. This gives you the street credit in Tel Aviv and Cairo that Obama neither has nor can generate overnight.
You can become the peacemaker in this conflict, but first you must prepare America for it.
You should work towards establishing a domestic movement in the US for peace in the Middle East. A strong American movement for peace will empower American Presidents to take tough decisions for peace.
A plurality of Americans care very strongly about Israel, a tiny minority cares about Palestinians, and even fewer Americans care enough about peace in the Middle East to matter. Unless a significant segment of the American people want peace in the Middle East and empower their leaders to pursue it, American peacemakers will be ineffectual.
If Joseph Biden can motivate and prepare Americans to demand peace in the Middle East, then he will not only be doing a great service to America, to Israel's security and the suffering Palestinians, but he will also ensure that he goes down in history as one of America's greatest peacemakers.
You can do it Joe.
(Dr. Muqtedar Khan is Director of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware and a Fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding)
