Israel is trying to clean up the Bush administration’s mess

Though the fact seems lost on its supporters, Israel’s war in Gaza is ironically another nail in the neoconservative coffin. After all, it’s essentially an effort to reverse the idiotic Bush administration policy that brought Hamas to power in free elections. But that hasn’t stopped the usual suspects from counseling solutions that could eventually double down on that debacle by giving the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’ Egyptian cousin, a much bigger prize: Egypt. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is in his 80s, and he’s faced increasing domestic pressure every year since the second intifada began. If he were to deploy his troops to Gaza in support of Israeli objectives, he’d be giving the Muslim Brotherhood the biggest shot in the arm in its history on the eve of an already delicate succession.

Nonetheless, in Monday’s Washington Post, John Bolton shouts “full speed ahead!”:

Let’s start by recognizing that trying to create a Palestinian Authority from the old PLO has failed and that any two-state solution based on the PA is stillborn. Hamas has killed the idea, and even the Holy Land is good for only one resurrection. Instead, we should look to a “three-state” approach, where Gaza is returned to Egyptian control and the West Bank in some configuration reverts to Jordanian sovereignty. Among many anomalies, today’s conflict lies within the boundaries of three states nominally at peace. Having the two Arab states re-extend their prior political authority is an authentic way to extend the zone of peace and, more important, build on governments that are providing peace and stability in their own countries. “International observers” or the like cannot come close to what is necessary; we need real states with real security forces.

This idea would be decidedly unpopular in Egypt and Jordan, which have long sought to wash their hands of the Palestinian problem. Accordingly, they should not have to reassume this responsibility alone. They should receive financial and political support from the Arab League and the West, as they both have for years from the United States. Israel should accept political and administrative roles by Jordan and Egypt, unless it intends to perform such roles itself (which it manifestly does not).

As some might recall, Bolton’s “real security forces” are the same guys who lost control of their border last year for two weeks. At least he acknowledges Egypt’s concerns about domestic backlash from the Muslim Brotherhood, but the fact is, having it and Jordan “re-extend their prior political authority” will jeopardize peace and stability in those countries and empower people Bolton won’t like. So Egypt and Jordan want no part of this, and even if we could bribe them to take one, compromising their governments is decidedly not in our interests, or those of Israel. That is, unless Bolton is looking to help another terrorist group.