Jerusalem Post columnist Michael Freund noted today that Bush is doing exactly what he criticized his predecessor Bill Clinton for doing. In a May 22, 2000 address to AIPAC, Freund writes, Bush criticized the Clinton-Gore team by saying, "In recent times, Washington has tried to make Israel conform to its own plans and timetables. This is not the path to peace." Furthermore, in October of that year, during a debate with Al Gore, Bush again attacked Clinton, stressing that "the next leader needs to be patient. We can't put the Middle East peace process on our timetable. It's got to be on the timetable of the people that we're trying to bring to the peace table. We can't dictate the terms of peace."
"Yet now," writes Freund, "just two-and-a-half years later, that is exactly what Bush is attempting to do. In laying out the road map leading to the creation of a Palestinian state, Bush has sought both to impose a series of timetables as well as to dictate the outcome of the process.... And so how did the Bush team react to this new spasm of Palestinian violence [24 attacks in the three first days after Aqaba, and at least five dead Israelis]? Why, by turning up the pressure on Israel, of course."
"Yet now," writes Freund, "just two-and-a-half years later, that is exactly what Bush is attempting to do. In laying out the road map leading to the creation of a Palestinian state, Bush has sought both to impose a series of timetables as well as to dictate the outcome of the process.... And so how did the Bush team react to this new spasm of Palestinian violence [24 attacks in the three first days after Aqaba, and at least five dead Israelis]? Why, by turning up the pressure on Israel, of course."