<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>washingtonpost.com - Mideast Opinions</title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><description>Mideast Opinions</description><language>en-us</language><ttl>15</ttl><image><title>washingtonpost.com</title><width>140</width><height>20</height><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com</link><url>http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/hp/image/wp_web.gif</url></image><item><title><![CDATA[Balancing Act in Gaza]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51670-2005Apr13.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51670-2005Apr13.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  The Gaza Strip is now the pivot for the hopes of a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, President Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared in unison the other day. But to say this is to ask an elephant to balance on a peanut.]]></description><author> Jim Hoagland</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sharon's Gamble Rides on Bush]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42689-2005Apr10.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42689-2005Apr10.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  A year ago this week Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrived in Washington with a bold agenda: to obtain the support of President Bush for a unilateral Israeli solution to his country's conflict with the Palestinians. Abandoning a decade of efforts at negotiations  --  not to mention Bush's own "road map" for a two-state solution  --  Sharon aimed to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, then impose a border of Israel's choosing in the West Bank, fortified by walls and fences. Rather than seek accord with the Palestinians, whom he knew would never accept his terms, Sharon sought to anchor his initiative in a deal with Bush, whom he asked for an endorsement of Israel's eventual annexation of West Bank territory and its determination never to accept the return of Palestinian refugees. With diplomacy at an impasse and Yasser Arafat still master of his long-suffering people, Bush signed on.]]></description><author> Jackson Diehl</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Democracy From the Inside Out]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32571-2005Mar13.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32571-2005Mar13.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  Last week's mass demonstration by Hezbollah in the streets of Beirut was commonly described as a check on the Middle East's first mass movement for freedom, and a setback for the United States and its regional allies. It could be. But it might also serve as a starting point for the necessary next phase of the Arab awakening, which is the incorporation of Hezbollah, Hamas and other Islamic movements into the region's new politics.]]></description><author> Jackson Diehl</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Good-News Bind]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5693-2005Mar3.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5693-2005Mar3.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   When the news from abroad is good, what is the political opposition to do? Should Democrats let President Bush crow about favorable developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,  Lebanon and  Iraq? Should they crow with him? And how should Democrats deal with Bush's appropriation of what Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) calls "Wilsonian" and "Kennedyesque" rhetoric promoting the spread of democracy? If Bush pushes policies that are both "Democratic with a large D and a small d," Lieberman asks, shouldn't Democrats encourage him?]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Teaching Hate]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5648-2005Mar3.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5648-2005Mar3.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  The arrest of a former valedictorian of the Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia is a stunning reminder of the link between terrorism and teaching hate to children [front page, Feb. 23].]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[For Tony Blair, No Backing Down]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64394-2005Mar1.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64394-2005Mar1.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   LONDON -- The political price that Tony Blair pays at home for his enthusiastic partnership with President Bush in Iraq is made clear to a visitor who asks a London cabbie about the impending national election. "Oh, Vice President Blair will get back in," comes the sardonic reply.]]></description><author> Jim Hoagland</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Israel Draws the Line]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51782-2005Feb24.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51782-2005Feb24.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Last Sunday Israel crossed two Rubicons. The Cabinet decided once and for all to withdraw from Gaza and dismantle 25 settlements -- 21 in Gaza and four in the upper West Bank. Yet, had Israel done only this, it would be seen, correctly, as a victory for terrorism, a unilateral retreat and surrender to the four-year intifada. That is why the second Israeli decision was so important. The Cabinet also voted to finish the security fence on the West Bank, which will separate Israeli and Palestinian populations and create the initial border between Israel and a nascent Palestine.]]></description><author> Charles Krauthammer</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Unheralded Revolution]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48685-2005Feb23.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48685-2005Feb23.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Look beyond the jockeying for jobs in Iraq's embryonic transitional government. Focus instead on the final results in that Arab country's matrix-breaking election. They reveal a little-publicized result that President Bush, feminist organizations and democracy advocates should be shouting from the rooftops.]]></description><author> Jim Hoagland</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Egypt's Gamble]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21976-2005Feb13.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21976-2005Feb13.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   The appearance  of Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Washington this week should bring to a head a bold attempt by their country's strongman, Hosni Mubarak, to neuter President Bush's campaign for democracy in the Middle East within weeks of his inaugural address.]]></description><author> Jackson Diehl</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Rice's European Tests]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59186-2005Feb2.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59186-2005Feb2.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   On these urgent issues, Condoleezza Rice will find consensus with America's European partners on her first trip abroad as President Bush's chief diplomat:]]></description><author> Jim Hoagland</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Help Abbas Succeed]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8096-2005Jan13.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8096-2005Jan13.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[The election of Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen) in Palestinian voting  Sunday came as no surprise. The organized election process, the lively campaign and the openness to the media have all  proved once again that if a Palestinian state is established it will be the first Arab democracy. But the state has not yet been established, and the system now headed by Abbas is not much more than a stage set.]]></description><author> Yossi Beilin</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Arafat's  Heir]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54851-2005Jan6.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54851-2005Jan6.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Has no one learned anything?<br>On Sept. 13, 1993, I was on the White House lawn watching the signing of the Oslo accords. I also watched the intellectual collapse of the entire Middle East intelligentsia -- journalists, politicians, "experts" -- as they swooned at the famous handshake...]]></description><author> Charles Krauthammer</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[After the Election]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51883-2005Jan5.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51883-2005Jan5.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  The tragedies and crimes of the past 10 wasted years between Israelis and Palestinians will not be erased even by a sudden outbreak of common sense and humanity along the Green Line. But the next few weeks offer a shining opportunity for both sides to make progress by going backward.]]></description><author> Jim Hoagland</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sidestepping Palestinian Democracy]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12531-2004Dec19.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12531-2004Dec19.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[President Bush's new demand that an Israeli-Palestinian peace process begin with the establishment of a Palestinian democracy has met little resistance in Washington or in Ramallah, where authorities are busy organizing two sets of elections -- one for president and another for  municipal offices -- in the next three weeks. But it is viewed with pervasive skepticism in a seemingly unlikely quarter: the Middle East's only current democracy, Israel.]]></description><author> Jackson Diehl</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[France in Pain]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56430-2004Dec10.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56430-2004Dec10.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   After recently spending nearly two weeks in Paris and having many conversations with old friends from France's national security elite, I conclude that intellectually, most French want the Bush administration to succeed in Iraq. But emotionally, many want it to fail.]]></description><author> Robert D. Blackwill</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Life Among the Checkpoints]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33961-2004Dec3.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33961-2004Dec3.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Thank you for Molly Moore's excellent Nov. 29 front-page article, "Checkpoints Take Toll on Palestinians, Israeli Army." It was insightful about  the dehumanization that occurs at the checkpoints; the situation is appalling.]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Steps Toward Middle East Peace]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6035-2004Nov22.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6035-2004Nov22.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Michael Oren offered a recipe for continued bloodshed in his Nov. 14 Outlook piece -- that  the United States and Israel should sit on their hands until the arrival of Palestinian leaders  who are willing to negotiate with Israel and have legitimacy in the eyes of the Palestinian public.]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Middle East Approaches That Won't Work]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58828-2004Nov17.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58828-2004Nov17.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Brent Scowcroft's Nov. 12 op-ed column, "A Middle East Opening,"  was a reminder of the Middle East policy that failed the first George Bush and his successor, Bill Clinton. Proposing NATO troops as guarantors of Israeli security is a non-starter; European troops failed to protect the Bosnians on Europe's own soil from slaughter. Europe surely will do even less to protect Israelis.]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Death of Yasser Arafat]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44025-2004Nov11.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44025-2004Nov11.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  My condolences go out to the Palestinian people on the loss of their leader.]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[. . . and Lost Chances]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44080-2004Nov11.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44080-2004Nov11.html?nav=rss_world/issues/mideastpeace/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:04:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ <em>  "No one can control or change this revolution. No one can control or change me."</em>]]></description><author> E. J. Dionne Jr.</author></item></channel></rss>