France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has a reputation for letting his enthusiasm run away with him. Having rushed with other European heads of government to the Middle East to douse the flames of Gaza, he returned home with a characteristically grandiose idea. Now that a truce seems to be taking hold, he wants, "within weeks", to convene a peace conference to begin solving the whole conflict once and for all.rnImpetuosity can be a dangerous thing in diplomacy. One reason for the failure of Israel and the Palestinians to make peace at Camp David in 2000 was a lack of adequate preparation by Bill Clinton. And Mr Sarkozy would certainly be a fool to rush in before co-ordinating any proposal with Barack Obama. But the French president's main insight is correct: the aftermath of the Gaza war is as good a moment as any-and maybe even better than many-to breathe new urgency into broader peacemaking in the Middle East.
展开▼
