US envoy William Burns left Lebanon with an admonition that “there can be no military solution to the problems that face the region,” a particularly apt choice of words on a day when at least 16 Israelis were killed in a bombing attack by Palestinian militants. The assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs was right, of course, and his observation applies to both sides. Suicide bombings will not bring about an Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories, and Israeli onslaughts on Palestinian towns and villages will not end the scourge of militancy. But  in the absence of a clear plan that lays out a road map to coexistence, Burns’ observation will amount to no more than George W. Bush’s oft-repeated “vision” of a Palestinian state: well-intentioned perhaps, but meaningless undoubtedly unless and until Washington goes beyond diplomatic posturing.
Both Israeli and Palestinian hard-liners have in common that their primary goal is not to confront one another but rather to undermine those of their respective compatriots who long for a chance to settle the dispute according to international law and the norms of civilized people. Continuing US inaction colludes in this bizarre alliance by abetting the efforts of both sides’ demagogues to stoke the fires of hatred. Israeli aggression is actively encouraged by the absence of genuine US pressure for it to stop, and Palestinian terrorism is likewise fueled by a sense of hopelessness that Washington will ever be evenhanded. The result is that would-be peacemakers in the two camps have been sidelined.
The volatility of the situation has long-since passed the point where the parties themselves might have been able to defuse tensions, and the United States remains the primary sponsor of the peace process, making it the logical choice to take the lead in turning things around and getting negotiations back on track. But vague niceties will not be enough. It was pleasant to hear Burns say after meeting Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud that “I emphasized the obligation that all of us, that all parties will have to show our commitment for the political path,” but that sort of thing could have just as easily been overheard in a barber shop. What is required from Washington is a road map that emphatically demonstrates its commitment by setting out a realistic agenda, complete with a timetable that keeps any resumption of the peace process from descending anew into the mire of mistrust that eventually drowned Oslo in bluster and blood.
If a much-touted peace conference this summer is to accomplish anything at all, it is the United States which must impose a decisive break with the failed methods of the past and establish a framework for discussions that keeps both sides on the path to an understanding which their peoples can accept within a time frame that makes it worthwhile. Israelis must feel that they will be safe, and Palestinians must know that the end result will be a viable state, not a patchwork of bantustans. Only America can end the hijacking of the peace process by those who long for bloodshed and return it to those who earnestly desire to have their children and grandchildren learn to be one another’s neighbors again. But it can only do this if it works as systematically on behalf of reason and justice as the warmongers have in the service of madness and suffering.

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