U.S. President George W. Bush has finally laid out his vision of Middle East peace, and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat does not seem to have a place in it. That is one of the few details in Mr. Bush's speech, which is long on "vision" and short on specifics. The call for a new Palestinian leadership is a divisive move and may help cement faltering support for the embattled president of the Palestinian Authority. Mr. Bush's plan can succeed, but only if the U.S. takes an active role in the peace process and shows the world that his proposal is not just another way for the U.S. to distance itself from the Middle East conflict by imposing impossible conditions on the Palestinian people.
Mr. Bush's statement was anticipated. It had become clear that the administration's reluctance to get involved in the seemingly intractable conflict between Israelis and Palestinians jeopardized other foreign policy goals -- namely, marshaling world support for the war on terror. Yet the U.S. reportedly has evidence that shows participation in terrorist activities by the highest levels of the Palestinian Authority. Mr. Bush could not endorse the Palestinian leadership as a credible partner for peace while saying there could be no compromises in the war on terror.
Those two seemingly incompatible objectives form the heart of the proposal Mr. Bush made earlier this week. The Palestinians would be offered an "interim" state when they elected leaders "not compromised by terror" -- in other words, when they dump Mr. Arafat.