Martin Indyk

About the Author: Martin Indyk is executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based research institution that examines U.S. national interests in the Middle East.

Saddam Hussein's devastating defeat in the Gulf war has left in its wake a sense of America's obligation to help resolve some of the Middle East's long-standing problems. One problem high on President George Bush's list of priorities is the Arab-Israeli conflict. As he told a joint session of Congress on March 6, 1991, "the time has come to put an end to [the] Arab-Israeli conflict."

Nonetheless, the Gulf war was fought to liberate Kuwait, not to solve the Palestinian problem. Although Iraq repeatedly attacked Israel with Scud missiles, Israel was not a belligerent in this war&mdash...