Cynicism in Sharm el-Sheikh

My quick read of Monday's four-way, Arab-Israeli summit is that the Arabs, at least, aren't feeling that they got what they wanted or needed from Israel.

Arab states used the meeting to showcase that President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah, remains the legitimate leader of the Palestinians notwithstanding Hamas's 2006 parliamentary election victory and the fundamentalist group's armed takeover of the Gaza Strip this month. They came to Sharm el-Sheikh insisting that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert do his part, too. They wanted to see some immediate Israeli gestures to show that Fatah rather than Hamas can not only deal with the Israelis but get results. And they wanted Olmert to make a commitment, with the immediate gestures being a sign of good intentions, to resume final-status negotiations that Israel broke off six years ago after the Palestinians launched another uprising against the occupation.

Olmert did in fact announce that Israel would begin releasing a good portion of the $700 million in withheld tax revenues that Abbas insists Israel owes the Palestinian Authority. Olmert also said he'd seek cabinet approval for the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners who don't have Jewish blood on their hands. That is an important concession, given that Olmert previously suggested that Israel would not free Palestinians while Hamas continues to hold corporal Gilad Shalit. Shalit was abducted from an outpost a year ago and Hamas released an audio tape recorded by their prisoner on Monday just before the summit was underway. Finally, Olmert said he saw "a chance" for peace" and "do not intend to let this opportunity pass us by."

It all sounded good, one senior Arab diplomat agreed afterwards, but Olmert and Abbas have reached understandings in the past that fizzled out in the implementation. "It wasn't negative," the diplomat told me. "But let's wait and see what's going to happen. God knows whether it will get implemented or not."

Olmert's words indicated that he truly wanted to lend Abbas a hand now that he has ditched Hamas from the national unity government. But as in the past, Arab diplomats said, he seemed to be tying Israeli gestures to Abbas's progress in cracking down on Palestinian violence. If that is the case, the parties are likely to become locked in the vicious circle again, with Israel saying it can't talk peace while the Palestinians use violence, and the Palestinians using violence in the belief Israel is not sincere about peace. One gesture Olmert notably did not make was easing up on Israeli military checkpoints in the West Bank, to Palestinians a constant, grueling reminder of Israel's occupation.

The cynicism was thick among Arab diplomats I met on the sidelines throughout the day. They see Abbas as a weak leader who can scarcely control his own political group much less Hamas. They see Hamas as an immature group that is essentially doing Iran's bidding. They see Olmert as weak and gutless, too timid to pursue the compromise with the Palestinians that he has demonstrated he understands is a historical necessity for Israel. And they see Bush--who was absent from the gathering-- as a deer who is frozen in the headlights once again-- stunned by Hamas's brazen coup in Gaza, not sure how to pursue the comprehensive settlement for a Palestinian state that he professes to be a cornerstone of American Middle East policy. (Arabs aren't the only ones blaming Bush's failures. Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar's column in Haaretz Monday was titled "With friends like these..." and declared: "It is difficult to think of an American president who has caused more damage to Israeli interests than the president who is considered one of the friendliest to Israel of all time. No leader has done more than Bush - by commission as well as omission - to destroy the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas."

The Arabs are a bit sanctimonious about the Arab peace initiative, but these days they are not above self-criticism when it comes to their dilemma in getting Olmert and/or Bush more enthusiastic about it. When I asked one of them what the Arabs should do now, he replied simply and honestly: "I don't know."

-By Scott MacLeod/Sharm el-Sheikh