Is there hope this time (6/6/03)

When it comes to the Middle East, our supply of optimism has just about run out.

And yet, we can’t help but hope that this time things will be different.

President after president has wrestled with the complex issues and bitter animosities between Israel and the Palestinians.

It’s been going on so long the headlines blur together.

The shuttle diplomacy of Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter jawboning Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat at Camp David, and Bill Clinton on the White House lawn with Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, the images flow like an endless dream of lost opportunities and dashed hopes.

Now it is George W. Bush’s turn, and in spite of ourselves we tap the last drops of our optimism and hope that this time will be different.

Maybe this time Israel’s leaders will recognize that a lawful Palestinian state is in Israel’s best interests.

Maybe this time Palestinian leaders will rein in the terrorists and suicide bombers, realizing they are so close to getting what they’ve longed for that the last mile must be achieved by peaceful means.

Maybe.

The world hopes so. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]