President Bush once talked bullishly about Middle East peacemaking. He would "ride herd" on recalcitrant leaders, picking up the telephone whenever necessary and helping produce a long-elusive agreement.

In truth, Bush has been more a sporadic speaker than engaged enforcer during his seven years in office.

This week's peace conference is an effort by his administration to step more deeply into trying to help settle one of the world's most intractable conflicts. Two key questions are how much Bush himself will become involved and how much good he could do during the final year in the White House after a hands-off history.

Past presidents staked much on the Middle East; some even achieved encouraging results. But after decades of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians, there is no resolution to the Palestinians' desire for an independent state.

President Carter's 1978 Camp David sessions led to a peace treaty the following year between Israel and Egypt. A 1991 Mideast peace conference in Madrid, Spain, which was sponsored by the first President Bush and the Russians, paved the way for the Oslo peace accords and establishment of the Palestinian Authority. President Clinton brokered Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at Wye River in Queenstown, Md., in 1998; at Camp David in July 2000; and in Taba, Egypt, in January 2001 — all to no avail.

For a host of reasons, Bush has behaved differently.

There was his inclination to discard all things Clinton, coupled with the recognition that past intensive efforts, including the Clinton-sponsored sessions that broke off just before Bush became president, had not paid off. The Sept. 11 attacks and the Iraq war drew the bulk of the White House's attention.

Then there is Bush's personal temperament and a business-school taught management style. He prefers to focus on establishing a grand vision and trusting details to subordinates.

"Hands off would be an understatement," said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli negotiator. He now heads the Middle East Initiative at the New America Foundation and the Prospects for Peace Initiative at The Century Foundation. ...

But Levy said Bush's engagement, when it has happened, has proved mostly unhelpful because it consistently has strengthened the Israelis' position over the Palestinians'. For instance, a 2004 exchange of letters with Sharon supported Israel's retention of Jewish settlements near its border and rejected Palestinian claims that refugees have a right to return to Israel. ...

For the complete article, please follow this link. For more information on Daniel Levy and the upcoming Annapolis peace conference, please visit the American Strategy Program website.