Zinni Zinging It

Gen. Anthony Zinni spoke of his first-hand experience as a mediator between Israeli and Palestinian political parties at Cornell this week.

Excerpts:.

“I have never encountered a process as complicated and complex as this one,” Zinni said...[The peace process] is singularly the most important issue, if not in terms of what it might do to alleviate other problem directions, but also in terms of psychological relationships with the West”...

...“The U.S. has a vision and paths to peace, but I don’t think that everyone else has laid their cards on the table,” Zinni said...“The prospects are honestly not good, but there are glimmers of opportunity and hope. Maybe those ashes and sparks can be fanned a bit and maybe something will catch on,” Zinni said.

Okay, we all lknow that. Tell us something new.

...the United States has to change its approach towards peace efforts. Specifically, Zinni explained how envoys, summits, agreements in principle and moderators fail to take into account the complexity of the situation. For example, envoys, who are government agents sent on specific missions, are too temporary to solve a problem that needs a group of committed, full-time individuals. Summits are also typically not thoughtful or long enough to resolve the issues at hand.

...Lastly, the general suggested making a “permanent address in Jerusalem,” where political, economic and monitoring components create a series of working groups that simultaneously address specific issues. He suggested that these working groups would diffuse the “constant rhetoric and screaming” that have little to do with the actual peace process. He also suggested using both official and unofficial tracks of communication to move along compromises.

That's it?