All this requires clear thinking. At the RAND Corporation, for example, a team of researchers has laid out a comprehensive approach to building a successful Palestinian state, covering governance, security, education, health, water, investment -- as well as long-term economic relations with Israel and the outside world. RAND's practical ideas have drawn praise from some Palestinian as well as Israeli leaders, precisely because they are about people more than about politics.
But even if Blair can get the economic development issues right, he can't stop there if Abbas is to have a chance to succeed. Blair will need to gain Israel's assurances that life for Palestinians, both in the West Bank and in Gaza, will become better. That includes greater freedom of movement, both within the West Bank and between it and Gaza. Blair will also likely press Israel to prove its intentions by stopping all settlement activity in the West Bank -- no new settlements, no expansion of existing ones.
By the same token, Blair will need to press the Palestinians to deliver a virtual cessation of attacks on Israel from Palestinian territories, including by Hamas, lest all peace efforts be blown apart by renewed fighting. As always, such a cessation would be at the mercy of extremists competing for power or bent on making peace impossible.
In the process, Blair will have to talk to all parties, including Hamas -- an Israeli and US sticking-point.
These are all needs to be met even before the US can try again to broker a political settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. In the end, the obstacles may cause the "Blair option" to fall short. But everyone committed to a positive outcome for Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East should wish Blair good luck.
Robert Hunter, US ambassador to NATO from 1993 to 1998, is senior adviser at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research organization. The RAND study cited above, Building a Successful Palestinian State, can be downloaded at www.rand.org/palestine/
Copyright: Project Syndicate/RAND
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