In Mideast Diplomacy, Few Secrets or Solutions
THROUGHOUT his presidency, it seems, George W. Bush has tried to impose a lockstep, lockjaw style of government. Secrets are kept; when they are spilled, there are consequences. Press briefings sometimes reveal so little information that they tend to confuse as much as they enlighten. Meetings are small, which helps to minimize leaks.

So it is puzzling that on the most politically sensitive foreign policy issue before them — the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — Mr. Bush and his aides have publicly aired their views, and even differences. Even more remarkable, declarations are made even though the policy guiding the diplomacy has not fully taken shape. The Europeans, the Arabs, the Congress and the antagonists themselves have complained of confusion.

…the lack of clarity about the substance of American policy has complicated efforts to get the parties to make compromises, and this in an area where every word of every statement is a potential verbal landmine. Security Council Resolution 242, for example, states that Israel must withdraw from "territories occupied" in the 1967 war, not "the territories occupied." For 35 years, that semantic ambiguity has led Arabs to demand that Israel withdraw 100 percent, and Israel to say that such a concession is not required. And back in 1990, one reason the Israeli government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir fell was that President Bush's father, the first President George Bush, referred to homes built by Israelis in East Jerusalem as "settlements" rather than "neighborhoods."

In the face of demands for rigor and precision, though, Mr. Bush and his top advisers often seem less like a well-conducted orchestra than like improvisers in a jazz combo. Consider the last eight days. In the presence of Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, on Saturday, Mr. Bush said the United States must start work immediately toward establishing a Palestinian state. The next day, with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, he said there could be no quick progress toward peace without sweeping reform of the Palestinian Authority. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said the administration was considering backing an interim Palestinian state.

Kenneth Pollack, director for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, says the Middle East policy "seems a little like a cushion: it seems to take the shape of the last person to sit on it."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/16/weekinreview/16SCIO.html