Did they ever get it wrong…

US President George W. Bush and his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice thought they could solve the Middle East’s core problem — the Palestinian-Israeli dispute — by organizing a peace conference in Annapolis late last year. Having succeeded in bringing together Israelis and Palestinians, as well as Syrians, Saudis and numerous other countries for a meeting that was big in aspect though short in context, the administration bathed in the euphoria of its temporary success. ‘Temporary’ here is the key word because since November of last year, and since Bush’s promise of peace before his mandate expires in January 2009, the Middle East once again finds itself caught in a deadly spiral of increasing violence. Talk about misreading signals, misjudging reactions and misguided policies. Since the Annapolis conference Gaza, with its 1.4 million inhabitants besieged by the Israeli military and under Hamas control, sits on the brink of all-out war.