We See Him Here, We See Him There, the Everpresent Sarkozy

His presence on the world scene reflects the man's restless ambition to be everywhere at once; the mind that solves the problems of the world. One can only wish him success. Nicolas Sarkozy, busy body extraordinaire. The French president's heart is in the right place, his obvious grasp of issues, his dedication to mollifying and assuaging international bruises to present to the world at large a unified whole, is bedazzling.

Unlike the legendary Scarlet Pimpernel of historical imagination, he is anything but elusive. He is there, front and centre, present and accounted for. While no one could possibly fault his logic as it emanates from the mind of a civilized world leader, one can only liken his overtures to leaders representing countries hostile to the liberal democratic ideal, to the unfortunate habit of humans toward anthropomorphising animals, in a bid to think of them as akin to ourselves.

Wishing won't make it so. While we're all part of the animal kingdom, human beings have evolved in their own very particular way, gaining a high measure of capability to manipulate our environment by technological means, through our superior intellect and reasoning ability. Which is not to say that other animals haven't developed their own abilities to communicate and to apprehend and to anticipate. But it is not on the same order.

And societies whose current mode of political governance owes much to their primitive past when tribal affiliations trumped all other human emotional needs and potential partnerships, they simply are not as amenable as more enlightened societies which have adopted the principles of moderation, inclusion and universal justice. It's a trifle too simple to expect that the two very different mind-sets will see eye-to-eye on differences and the methods of settling them.

President Sarkozy's idea of establishing the Union of the Mediterranean, was nothing short of brilliant, as well as humanistic. The idea being to address the vital issues confronting both the affluent north and the impoverished south, of this globe. Migration, internal and external conflicts, the environment, potable water sources, energy distribution, and establishing an ostensibly helpful and concerned link between the solitudes is nothing less than noble.

Of course there's a great deal in this for France as well, under its new high-powered, positive-charged president. Who would appreciate being acknowledged as a high-level lever for positive change in the world, one who could challenge the eminence of the United States, Russia and China, as the world's current and emerging power brokers. But you can't please everyone, hard as you might attempt to.

And President Sarkozy attempts to, mightily. Although he was front and centre with overtures to a newly-enfolded Libya - once Muammar Gaddafi succumbed to western pressure to halt all nuclear ambitions - to offer that country France's assistance in establishing peaceful nuclear installations, Muammar Gaddafi huffily refused his attendance at this new summit. Characterizing the call to attend as patronizing, warmed-up colonialism, "a form of humiliation".

So might pet poodles, could they but give voice to the humiliation of being dressed in garments approximating those worn by humans, respond. However, Mr. Sarkozy made no secret of his ambitious commitment to heralding in a new era of peace to the Middle East, and for that purpose, hosting a preliminary meeting with Israeli and Palestinian representatives - along with Syrians.

You can lead a Syrian president to the table, but you cannot force him to acknowledge the presence of an Israeli president. Civil behaviour does not come readily to those more comfortable with rage, anger, suspicion and a proclivity to strike before assessing other possibilities. Still a joint statement was promulgated with France and Syria touting a future peace agreement between Damascus and Jerusalem.

Bashir al-Assad really, truly, agonizingly, wishes to recapture the Golan Heights by whatever means possible. Military means not that feasible, given that's the way Syria lost the Heights, and diplomatic overtures which have been ongoing at a low-grade level for some time, not having resulted in much, there is always the potential for influential friends to exert additional pressure. Still, not even a semi-grudging acknowledgement of the presence of a "partner in peace".

An enemy is an enemy is an enemy and one does not sit dutifully by in respect of diplomatic niceties to hear out that enemy's address, even if a portion of it might apply to the very situation between oneself and that enemy that is a topic of high-level intervention. Of course that would apply equally to another "partner for peace", accompanying Bashir al-Assad, none other than PA Chairman Abu Mazen, yet another friend of Israel.

Still, the Palestinian Authority and Israel engaged in the diplomatic posturing expected at such a gathering; if not by the "impoverished south", then by the "affluent north". Expressing great confidence in their negotiations up until now, particularly the drama of imminent success being unfolded right there at the Elysee Palace. Must be something in the air that was so compellingly intoxicating, leading them to exult in progress yet to be seen.

"We are approaching the moment when we will have to make decisive choices, grave, important choices that will take us to a stage we have never reached before", said the hard-pressed Ehud Olmert. Does that grandiloquent promise not raise hope in the hearts of even the most scornfully cynical among us? As for Mahmoud Abbas, whose fervent claim, "We will pursue this effort. We are quite serious", stressing the sides "could arrive at peace within a number of months", how edifying.

Israel is giving away the shop, she is offering feel-good gifts to Fatah, Hamas, Syria, Hezbollah. Good-will exchanges of hundreds of Jew-hating Arabs with blood on their hands, prisoners in Israeli jails for crimes committed against Jews, young and old, civilian and military. Controversial? you bet. A bargain with the devil. A new reality appears to be emerging within Israel; not only are the threats from terror-bent Palestinians coming from without the state, from the West Bank and Gaza, but increasingly from within.

Israeli Palestinians have been demonstrating latterly just how devoted they are to the state which has absorbed them, given them citizenship and all the rights that cling to that status. Arab MKs have been studiously consorting with the State's avowed enemies. And ordinary Israeli-Palestinians have become radicalized in concerning numbers, to wreak havoc within the country, now that access to the interior has been truncated by the encircling wall.

Moreover, as a result of Israel's generosity in ongoing "concessions" whereby she trades the bodies of dead Israelis for the real-life future activism of convicted Palestinian terrorists, the process of further negotiations is becoming more clear to the Palestinian Authority. In the words of the Palestinian Authority's minister for Prisoner Affairs, "On the Palestinian street there is now an understanding that without kidnapping soldiers, we can't get prisoners released."

This Palestinian PA authority, Ashraf al-Ajami, a former convicted terrorist who spent a decade in an Israeli prison, is angered by Israel's prisoner-release negotiations with Hamas and Hezbollah for the release of hundreds of terrorists in exchange for a meagre twosome of kidnapped IDF soldiers' corpses. Everyone has their own very particular point of view. It's human nature.

Speaking of which, we turn to the hopes of Nicolas Sarkozy, that the summit show-casing French influence and initiative may prove ultimately to have been the turning point in improving Israeli-Arab relations. If it succeeds - and it would reflect a success celebrated world-wide - then, the president's high hopes and energy-driven determination would have accomplished a great deal. If it does not succeed, then nothing could detract from the thought behind the effort.

Without risking one's reputation and considerable effort to make a difference, to bring intractable enemies together nothing is gained. The risk is only that it may fail. There must be a wish for an accord to be reached that is matched on both sides of the divide. The Arab states aren't risking very much themselves, if nothing is settled, other than perhaps some level of satisfaction that the canker of "Palestine" has been excised. Israel risks a great deal; her security, her toehold on that rancorous geography.

In giving concessions to people with a tribal mindset for whom any little concession represents a victory, a triumph, and a demonstrated weakness on the part of an otherwise-considered powerful enemy, the rational, civilized group establishes a real and present set-back for themselves. The resulting scorn in the wake of concessions, the belief by the party that has gained something without effort, that it has won, and the other is weak, encouraging not the hoped-for outcome, but a further stiffening of the resolve toward conflict spells out the true failure of such overtures.

Until and unless at some future time the Arab contingent recognizes a willingness to meet halfway as a genuine overture toward peace which does not negate their partner's powerful instinct for survival, nothing will be accomplished.