From Conflict Management to Conflict Resolution

Abstract

THE RECENT fighting in the Levant presents a fundamental challenge for U.S. policy toward the Middle East-but also an opportunity to move from conflict management to conflict resolution. The United States should seize this moment to transform the cease-fire in the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict into a step toward a comprehensive Arab Israeli peace settlement. Doing so would facilitate the marginalization ofthe forces of Islamic radicalism and enhance the prospects for regional security and political, economic, and social progress. The Hezbollah-Israeli confrontation has further proved what should already have been painfully clear to all: there is no viable military solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Even with its military superiority, Israel cannot achieve security by force alone or by unilateral withdrawal from occupied territories. Nor can Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and similar groups destroy Israel. Peace can come only from negotiated agreements that bind both sides. Hezbollah may have ignited the spark that set off this latest con frontation, but it is not the root cause. The fighting was the combined result of the unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict and the struggle between