WRITE FOR US! LIVING WITH IRAQ REMEMBERING CHARLIE BRAY SEMIANNUAL SCHOOLS SUPPLEMENT $3.50 / DECEMBER 2006 OREIGN ERVICE FJ O U R N A L S THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS KEEPING THE LID ON Prospects for Peace in the Middle East CONTENTS December 2006 Volume 83, No. 12 F OCUS ON M IDDLE E AST P EACE F EATURES 21 / THE HOLY LAND: LIVING WITH IRAQ / 52 CAN PEACE BE RESCUED? Many Foreign Service personnel and family members have The U.S. could, if it wished, already experienced events that place them at high risk for break the impasse and help PTSD. It’s time to talk about the problem. Israelis and Palestinians By Beth Payne make peace. APPRECIATION / 56 By Philip C. Wilcox Jr. The Best Among Us: Charles W. Bray III, 1933-2006 27 / BITTERLEMONS.ORG By Shawn Dorman AND THE LEBANON WAR Launched in 2001 with U.S. S CHOOLS S UPPLEMENT assistance, an innovative project promotes joint, Web-based THE INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE PROGRAM / 85 Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. The IB is a challenging academic program with many By Yossi Alpher perks — for the right type of student. By Francesca Huemer Kelly 29 / HOLDING ISRAEL RESPONSIBLE Bitterlemons’ Palestinian co-editor offers his own perspective. SCHOOLS AT A GLANCE / 98, 102 By Ghassan Khitab Essential data on educational choices. 33 / U.S. POLICY AND THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT C OLUMNS D EPARTMENTS President Bush has not held Israel to account PRESIDENT’S VIEWS / 5 LETTERS / 7 for its failure to pursue peace with its neighbors. Foreign Assistance “Reform:” CYBERNOTES / 12 By Nadia Hijab The Short-Term Mentality Sets In By J. Anthony Holmes MARKETPLACE / 14 39 / THE IMPLICATIONS OF IRAQ FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AFSA NEWS / 59 The presumption of U.S. military superiority is under PEAKING UT S O / 14 BOOKS / 74 fire in Iraq. Even more important, the world may Immigration Policy for the IN MEMORY / 80 begin to doubt our leadership and reliability. 21st Century INDEX TO By Edward Walker By David Searby ADVERTISERS / 114 45 / TOWARD A NEW FOREIGN POLICY AGENDA LETTER FROM THE EDITOR / 19 Terrorism in the Middle East is not the cause of the By Steven Alan Honley violence we face, but the response to occupation by REFLECTIONS / 116 those too weak to use any other tactic. The Lucky Pole By Robert V. Keeley By Nicholas Rey THE MAGAZINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS OREIGN ERVICE Foreign Service Journal (ISSN 0146-3543), 2101 E Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037-2990 is published J O U R N A L F S monthly with a combined July/August issue by the American Foreign Service Association, a private, non-profit Editorial Board Editor organization. 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The appearance of advertisements herein Business Manager JOSH GLAZEROFF does not imply the endorsement of the services or goods offered. FAX: (202) 338-8244 or (202) 338-6820. ANDREW KIDD WILLIAM W. J ORDAN E-MAIL: [email protected]. WEB: www.afsa.org. TELEPHONE: (202) 338-4045. © American Foreign Service Art Director LAURIE KASSMAN CARYN SUKO SMITH Association, 2006. Printed in the U.S.A. Send address changes to AFSA Membership, 2101 E Street N.W., KAY WEBB MAYFIELD Editorial Intern Washington, D.C. 20037-2990. Printed on 50-percent recycled paper, of which 10 percent is post-consumer waste. CRYSTAL K. MERIWETHER LAMIYA RAHMAN Advertising Intern JOYCE NAMDE FLORIAN HEINHOLD CHRISTOPHER L. TEAL Cover and inside illustrations by Adam Niklewicz DECEMBER 2006/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 3 PRESIDENT’S VIEWS Foreign Assistance “Reform:” The Short-Term Mentality Sets In BY J. ANTHONY HOLMES The buzz is back. The idea standing thematic and regional tributing anti-retroviral drugs to AIDS that was so pervasive earlier this programs are reportedly being sufferers, it could be quite the opposite year, that the State Department relegated to the margins of via- with our larger programs and broader under Secretary Rice intends to bility. goals. take over USAID, has flared up A number of affected peo- Reducing our aid’s geographical and again despite adamant denials. ple have expressed alarm that thematic focus creates other problems, This time, though, the percep- the new USAID Administra- particularly on a strategic level in terms tion is that a merger by stealth is tor/Deputy Secretary, former of how to use aid to pursue overall U.S. already well advanced. pharmaceutical executive Randall Tob- interests. USAID was forced to shrink Reports of rock-bottom morale and ias, is trying to apply to the huge, com- to survive during the 1990s, when a con- rumors of a surge in voluntary retire- plex foreign aid structure the formula centrated, “invest-in-success” model ments reflect a growing perception of that worked relatively well for him, was also a reasonable development stra- huge shifts in power and control from albeit on a much smaller scale, as head tegy. However, this approach neglects overseas to Washington and from of PEPFAR, the White House initiative many challenges in a post-9/11 world, USAID to State. I’ve gotten the impres- to fight HIV/AIDS. PEPFAR’s hall- where we must find a way to engage sion that all our foreign assistance pro- marks include: the narrowest possible with precisely those countries to which fessionals think is missing is an official geographical and thematic focus to we give short shrift. The same is true, announcement that long-term develop- achieve immediate impact; maximum many believe, for our regional programs ment has now been supplanted as the control by headquarters, with limited and our initiatives on transnational agency’s overarching goal by short-term input on funding decisions from pros in threats like WMD proliferation and political considerations cloaked as the field; and a focus on ensuring mea- environmental degradation. “transformational diplomacy.” surable results even in the near term for The growing disquiet in State and The initial announcement early this use as PR and in budget battles. USAID is striking in that consciousness year that the new USAID Administrator But what works in the fight against of these profound changes has been would concurrently be the Deputy HIV/AIDS, some veterans believe, is such a creeping phenomenon, slowly Secretary of State for Foreign Assistan- not an appropriate approach to the sinking in without frank discussion, ce generated major heartburn among complex, interrelated issues and pro- debate, or intellectual buy-in by the USAID staff but little reaction at the cesses of economic and social develop- major stakeholders involved. Most of State Department. Aggressive efforts to ment. They want flexibility in the field the large and diverse U.S. development assuage those concerns focused on com- to be able to respond quickly to changes community doesn’t have a clue. While ing reforms in the allocation process and on the ground. They fear a zealous pur- some briefings on Capitol Hill have potential benefits from streamlining suit of demonstrable results — an inher- taken place, I understand, invitations multiple pots of our aid funds. But now, ently short-term focus — will be the tail were limited and the focus was on eight months into the effort, people that wags the dog, reordering priorities, process not substance. After the mid- have seen enough detail about the damping creativity and risk-taking, and term elections, of course, there will soon process, and learned of major funding dictating a supply rather than demand- be new individuals in key positions cuts and reallocations, that the decibel driven dynamic between the U.S. and and a different approach to oversight. level of concern has skyrocketed. This its aid recipient partners. The need for Perhaps this would be a good time to applies within State as well, where long- “local ownership” has become an article initiate an all-parties review of the of faith in development. While that may new paradigm so that the necessary J. Anthony Holmes is the president of the converge completely with Washington’s support here at home is achieved in American Foreign Service Association. political agenda when it comes to dis- advance. I DECEMBER 2006/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 5 LETTERS Public Diplomacy Congress for U/S Hughes’ strategic Editor’s Note: We welcome the & Career FSOs ability and leadership has led direct- four officers’ testimonial to the work We read with surprise in your Oc- ly to increases in funding for educa- Karen Hughes is doing as under sec- tober issue (“Damage Control: Karen tional and cultural exchanges. She retary for public diplomacy — most Hughes Does PD”) that Under Secre- has pioneered new information out- points of which, in fact, appear in the tary Karen Hughes has supposedly not reach support like the Rapid Res- Zeller article — and for their first- recruited experienced Foreign and ponse Unit and overseas regional hand account of her aims and goals.