A new year brings hope to the Middle East

There is something about the beginning of a new year that allows even the most cynical mind to hope anew. To ponder -- minus the pessimism -- the "what ifs" and "could be'" of an upcoming, unblemished year.

Sure, a new year is nothing more than an artificial break, a way to record time. There's no real transformation that occurs between Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. Nevertheless, the symbolic closing of one year and opening of another offers hope for a better future. Even when thinking about the Middle East.

The year will start off with a bang. Perhaps not the best metaphor, but diplomatically-speaking, President George Bush's planned visit to the region from Jan. 8-16, in part to further advance post-Annapolis Conference peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, is significant. Bush is expected to visit Israel, the West Bank, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia. It will be Bush's first visit to Israel as president, though he did travel there as Texas governor 10 years ago.

Whether President Bush will seek to aggressively shape a legacy-shaping Israel-Palestine peace agreement in his final year in office remains debated. It is believed, however, that during Bush's visit to Israel, the two countries will announce an upgrading of diplomatic, economic and military ties.

Israeli political and diplomatic goals for 2008 include continuing to closely monitor Iran's nuclear weapons program, isolating Iranian proxies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, seeking to bolster the more moderate Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in the West Bank in order to progress on final-stage peace talks and investigating if peace with Syria is attainable.

Of course, Iran, the region's dominant and most destabilizing actor, has its own to-do list for the year ahead. Diametrically opposed to U.S., European and Israeli interests, Iran seeks chaos where the Western world seeks order, obfuscation rather than transparency over its nuclear program, supporting terrorists rather than peacemakers. In fact, it is more likely the shadow of Iranian influence across the Middle East, particularly as it impacts nervous oil-producing allies in the Gulf, and not the Israeli-Palestinian issue, that is driving the Bush trip. In light of a National Intelligence Estimate that believes Iran was pursuing a military nuclear weapons program that it ceased, President Bush told Reuters recently that part of the trip is "absolutely" about efforts to contain Iranian influence.

At the conclusion of the Annapolis Summit last November, both sides agreed to strive to secure a two-state solution by the end of 2008. "I feel good about it," Bush told Reuters about the timeframe. It "may not be a comfortable calendar for the two parties that actually have to negotiate the deal," but "both leaders … understand this is a great opportunity to define a state and the fact that I'll be leaving office 12 months from now serves as a backstop."

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have in fact been meeting since the Annapolis conference, but little real headway has been made. With Hamas in control of Gaza, and the near daily rocket fire from there hitting deeper and deeper into Israeli territory, things appear to be getting worse not better. But it's a new year. Anything is possible.