Powell's Resignation

The Jerusalem Post carries a report about the reason Colin Powell resigned as Secretary of State: Powell resigned over US-Israel ties. Apparently, Powell wanted the focus of US policy to be pressuring Israel into a compromise with the Palestinians. Dick Cheney and Undersecretary of State John Bolton disagreed, wanting to focus on Iran and Islamic terrorism. Cheney and Bolton won out. The article goes on to mention Condoleeza Rice and her views of the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reported that Rice is said to be sympathetic to the Palestinians' plight and has said she will work tirelessly for a democratic settlement.

It is interesting that the focus of the Bush Administration has publicly become more and more about democracy in the Middle East. In his press conference with Blair, Bush responded to a question about the peace process by once again talking about a "democratic Palestinian state". It seems to me that what this means is that a Palestinian state is very far off in the future. As long as the Palestinians politically remain what they are - and it seems that this is pretty much a given at the moment - they will not be democratic and therefore talk of a Palestinian state will die down. The new PA will not be very different from the old PA, and therefore Israeli concessions and the pressure for concession (at least from the US) will be minimal. Israel's Interior Minister, Avraham Poraz, seems to confirm this in this interview.