Beirut (AsiaNews) Only time will tell whether Condoleezza Rice's trip to the Middle East has achieved its goals of creating a de facto alliance between moderate Sunni governmentsSaudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and Gulf statesand providing support to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
If restarting the strategic alliance between "moderate" Sunni regimes has become a pressing need because of Iran's rising power in the region and the ascendancy of the Shiite community in Iraq, help to the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in his struggle with Hamas to set up a new government, one that would recognise Israel and adhere to agreements signed by previous Palestinian governments, is a crucial element for the Bush administration's plans for a "new Middle East".
The latest meeting with Israeli leaders and Abbas was designed to allow the movement of people, food, medicines and oil in and out of the Territories in order to alleviate the negative impact of the terrible economic crisis affecting them and which might lead to the actual social implosion of the Gaza Strip.
An optimistic statement in that sense was made by US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. In the end, Israel agreed to open the Karni crossingthe main transit for food and goodsand the Rafah crossing to Egypt at unspecified "regular intervals".
Israeli papers have also reported that the Israeli government might release some of the customs dues it collects for the PNA. Mideast papers also touched on Israel's "limited concessions".
With great caution, Ms Rice has talked about the confrontation between Abbas and Hamas when she expressed her hopes for a new government that "would satisfy the needs of the Palestinian people", a sentence that elicited an angry response from the Islamist movement, which accused the PNA president of preparing new elections to replace its government.
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak also mentioned new elections as a way out from the current impasse.
According to the Israel Policy Forum (IPF), a US-based advocacy group that includes former US ambassadors to the Middle East, advisors to the last four US presidents, former State Department officials and academics, if the United States wants to achieve its goals it must take five pivotal steps.
- First there must a complete end to hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians, including the release of the abducted Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, an end to terrorist attacks against Israel and a stop to Israeli incursions into the Palestinian territories and targeted assassinations;
- attention must be paid to what the Palestinian government does, not what it says;
- the United States must cooperate with the Saudi initiative," which calls for Israel to be recognised within its pre-1967's borders and the Palestinians' right of return, when it is presented to the United Nations;
- it must renew contacts with Syria to vet what President Assad's intentions are. Even though separating the Baathist regime from its alliance with Iran and Hezbollah is a task of tall order, conditions are such that an attempt can be made;
- it must boost the Lebanese government, and involving Syria is crucial for this to happen. The IPF's analysis also indicates two ways to do so: Israeli pull out from the Shebaa Farms and a prisoners exchange with the Lebanese government in which Hezbollah plays no role.