![]() This posed the larger question as to whether the United States, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and a host of Arab states and major powers could create real movement toward peace, and with it, a defeat for what Bush called “the extremists. The Syrians sent a deputy Foreign Minister. Lebanon could only send a Minister of Culture. Hamas put on demonstrations in Gaza and the West Bank. The uninvited - Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran - all cast a shadow. And Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), although Arafat’s one-time confidante, is definitely not the master of Palestinian politics. Those attending Madrid, however, had their eyes on Yasser Arafat, an acknowledged master of Palestinian politics. ![]() The Palestinians, then as now, were divided. In contrast, Ehud Olmert is widely distrusted, lacks a durable party base, and suffers a reputation for dangerous haste (the Lebanon War) and dubious deals. Israel’s then Prime Minister, Yitzchak Shamir, brought a stable coalition, a reputation for modesty, and a tough immobility occasionally punctuated by pragmatism. Bush the father came in the wake of victory over Saddam in Kuwait Bush the son came in the midst of a near defeat in post-Saddam Iraq. Unlike the last formal relaunch of Arab-Israeli negotiations - Madrid 1991 - this was an assembly of the weak. The Middle East Peace Conference convened by the United States on November 27, 2007, met in a spirit of easily restrained enthusiasm.
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