The New Bush Administration and Middle East Realities

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IN a nutshell, 'support for Israel' constituted the Middle East foreign policy prescription of presidential candidates Gore and Bush. Now that the elections are over, the incoming administration has an opportunity to re-evaluate U.S. Middle East policy in light of the Palestinian intifadah or uprising that began in September 2000. This new intifadah disrupted the peace process and damaged U.S. standing in the Gulf and the rest of the region. The attack on the USS Cole was but the latest expression of opposition to U.S. engagement in the region. Regardless of the ultimate direction of U.S. Middle East policy, the new administration will have to account for the following regional realities and perspectives that have become manifest during the two Clinton administrations if it is to conduct a successful foreign policy.

There are three overarching realities about the region that help explain current events and sentiments in the area. The first is that the peoples of the region have a very long history characterized by the succession of many different civilizations, languages, and traditions, that cannot be ignored as the region deals with the shaping challenges that are gradually ushering it into the contemporary requirements of political and economic life. This reality means that most peoples in the region wish their transitions to politically more democratic and free societies, and to an economically more prosperous and egalitarian future to be done on their own terms and timetables. It also means that American and Western political and economic paradigms are not necessarily the optimal approaches for the region's transformation. And yet, as globalization takes hold, the peoples of the region and those in America and the West are becoming increasingly interdependent mandating mutual critical understanding of their …