The London Conference

The London Conference on Palestinian Reform was called by PM Blair to
enhance his tattered image among his left-wing opponents by showing that he
is committed to peace between Palestine and Israel, whatever he did in
Iraq. As he said in his opening remarks on March 1, "There's probably no
more pressing political challenge than to move this process forward because
it has a relevance on the streets of Britain, on the streets of European
countries as well as in the Middle East itself." It has become an act of
faith among the irreligious left that if the Israel-Palestine conflict is
resolved, then peace will bust out all over, the Arabs will no longer be
anti-Western and violence will cease. Such superficial sentiment does not
stand up to the least amount of scrutiny (witness how the Arabs solve
problems between themselves).
But, nevertheless the Meeting (not conference) is proceeding without Israel.
Since it was to have focused exclusively on internal Palestinian reforms in
the areas of democracy, security, and economics, there was felt to be no
need for Israel to participate. But, however, as anticipated, some of
the participants have put a strong political spin on the proceedings, so
that in effect PM Blair has not kept his word to PM Sharon to avoid this
outcome. Apparently it was too tempting for the Arab participants not to
use the occasion to score points against Israel.
Both the BBC and CNN repeatedly highlighted the fact that Israel was not
represented there, as if that implied that Israel is against progress and
peace. However, Israel did not want to be pulled into a premature "peace
conference" that it had not been involved in the planning of and was not
party to. The issues to be discussed in detail were internal PA issues,
such as reducing the number of security services (again), ensuring economic
transparency (again), stopping random killings (again). All these issues
have been discussed as nauseam before, the only difference now was the
feeling that Pres. Abbas means business.
Another reason for the conference was to once again collect money for the PA
and ensure that the money promised is actually donated. Many countries have
held back because of the known corruption and misuse of funds that occurred
during Arafat's tenure. So far there is only a hope that things will be
different. On paper, the Palestinians have received the most money in the
world by far for charity, and the extra b$1 generously promised at the
London Meeting should significantly improve their economic situation, if it
is not all stolen again.
Now the Meeting is over, its actual accomplishments don't seem so important,
and have been overtaken by events in the area, including the suicide bombing
in Tel Aviv, the overthrow of the Government in Lebanon, and the pressure on
Syria to withdraw from Lebanon. The London meeting will only be remembered
if from this point on the Palestinians begin to act responsibly in the
international arena.