Bush and Arab-Israelis hope to move foward

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration intends to take Arab-Israeli diplomacy in a new direction, linking the intractable dispute over the Palestinians' future to other U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf.

Even familiar terminology is being cast aside. In a move approved by Secretary of State Colin Powell, the phrase "peace process" is being jettisoned in favor of specific references.

"There is no official term to describe our efforts to achieve Middle East peace," a State Department internal memorandum says.

The new direction shifts away from detailed and constant U.S. mediation, often involving the President, and away also from what Powell has suggested was undue concentration on one of a multitude of U.S. foreign policy problems.

"I am of a view you can't just concentrate on one thing. There are just many things going on at the same time," Powell said last week.

Asked about his priorities, Powell said: "I think, of course, we have to look at the Gulf and especially Iraq. Those things come to mind."

Only two presidents immersed themselves in the devilish details of peacemaking: Jimmy Carter, in forging the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, and Bill Clinton, in mediating the 1998 Wye Accords that called for Israeli withdrawals on the West Bank, and last year's futile drive for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Other presidents relied on their secretaries of state, special mediators, and the Near East bureau of the State Department and American ambassadors.

Bush yesterday pledged to work with Israel's newly elected prime minister, Ariel Sharon, to promote peace in the Middle East. "We're going to play the hand we've been dealt," he said, "and we're going to play it well."