Bill Clinton sees a new Middle East peace plan emerging within the next two months

by Michael G. Mickey

(9-20-06)

As I've been documenting a great deal lately, much is going on diplomatically toward a peace plan being agreed to in the troubled Middle East. From Tony Blair to Romano Prodi to Javier Solana, all of the revived Roman empire's heavyweights have been pressing the flesh in the region, trying to get the ball rolling. Could it be that something new, as opposed to the Arab League's peace proposal and the Quartet's roadmap to peace, is about to be introduced to the mix of Middle East peace initiatives presently being floated? A Yahoo News story on the topic has me wondering.

Former US President Bill Clinton, as seen in the Yahoo News story, "believes a new initiative to bring peace to the Middle East could emerge in the next two months." While the article states that Mr. Clinton says he has no insider information on the situation, one has to wonder why he'd even make such a suggestion if he didn't. Why would he say a new initiative could emerge within the next 60 days when so much emphasis has been placed on reviving the Quartet's roadmap to peace, for example?

In a recent commentary, I discussed the possibility that a historic shift may be underway concerning European Union foreign policy - a shift that may be coming as a result of European Union foreign ministers signalling that they want a change in approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Could it be that Mr. Clinton, who is friendly with any number of European leaders, has heard whisperings of something new in the works concerning Middle East peace? I don't know, but it's going to be fun to see whether or not Mr. Clinton's prognosis concerning a new peace initiative pans out.

If Mr. Clinton's prognosis is accurate, I believe we can be sure that any such peace initiative, in order to be taken seriously by either side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is going to have to be brought forth by European Union diplomats as US diplomacy, outside the Quartet's roadmap peace plan, presently seems dead in the water in the Middle East.

Who but God knows what tomorrow will bring, leading us closer to the return of Jesus Christ?

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