Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Hesitant Hegemon: The United States and the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse
By Alan Dowty
Abstract
Since June, 2002, U.S. policy toward Israeli-Palestinian issues has been based on a call for a change of Palestinian leaders, but without an operational strategy for helping to bring such change about. This has left Arab-Israeli diplomacy where it was before 1993: without a credible Palestinian negotiating partner, which plays into the hands of the opponents of the peace process on both sides. What is needed is nothing less than a concerted effort of nation-building in the West Bank and Gaza, carried out in an international format under U.S. leadership. Trends in opinion on both sides are increasingly favorable to such an initiative.