CAIRO, April 18 (IslamOnline.net) - Israel’s extrajudicial execution of newly-appointed Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Abdelaziz Rantissi, only days after U.S. President George W. Bush granted Israel what is now known in the political dictionary as "Bushfour Promise", has dealt a heavy - probably a fatal - blow to the so-called advocates of peace and political reform in the Middle East.

"It’s not just that such current is facing a dilemma or even a crisis, that current is virtually dead and reviving it would be what you might call the impossible miracle," pro-peace political analyst, Gihad Ouda, told IslamOnline.net Sunday, April 18.

Ouda was speaking about the current of political analysts, observers, writers and thinkers whom the U.S. is supposedly aiming to boost in the Arab and Muslim countries to counter other currents of influence it brands "terrorist" or "fundamentalist".

"I believe that current needs to reconsider its positions, recheck its speeches and to work on a new approach," Ouda, also a member of Egypt’s ruling National Democratic Party Policy Secretariat, added, but stopped short of speculating on what such a new approach might be.

Stressing almost the same message, but with a different rationale, Osama Saraya, Chief Editor of Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, and one of the staunchest supporters of the so-called peace process, likened the current situation in the Middle East to the one that led to the Arab’s humiliating defeat in the 1967 war launched by Israel.

"Forget about peace or reforms now. This is a replica of the circumstances leading up to our defeat in 1967. The Israeli right managed to stir the whole world against us by portraying all Arabs and Muslims as terrorists and outlaws who want to destroy the world.

"The Israeli right sees a historic opportunity to deal us a defeat more bitter than that of 1967. It is stupid of us to play their game. The peoples of the West and America see us as a threat to civilization. This being the case, it’s only natural for Israel to keep escalating [the situation]," Saraya said.

Evading any mention of the U.S. support for the Israeli practices or talk about democratic reform in the region, Saraya put the blame (behind Israeli escalation and U.S. support) squarely on fanatic and religious speeches by Osama Bin Laden, Muslim Brotherhood and even state media that play on the lack of awareness among the Arab public opinion.

"Talk about revenge or escalation now is meaningless and will lead us nowhere. The Israelis push us toward a battle they know they can win. We are not prepared for this battle. Our only option, in my opinion, is to change our speech, try to reach out to world peoples in a wise way," he added.

Saraya further insisted that the peace process launched over 13 years ago now was "good for the Palestinians".

Elaborating on what he saw as gains for the Palestinians, Saraya avoided talking about the current situation, but said the Arabs misused the Palestinian Intifada.

"Following Madrid and Oslo, the Palestinians made historic gains on the ground. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was welcomed to address the United Nations and was received in all world countries as the representative of the Palestinians."

Observers, analysts, Palestinian resistance factions and Arab public opinion believe Israel could have never proceeded with its unlimited escalation and extrajudicial executions of Palestinian leaders without a clear go-ahead from the White House.

In his first year in office, Bush unveiled openly his vision about establishing a Palestinian state.

He made that goal explicit with his peace plan, known as the roadmap, which was unveiled last year on the eve of Iraq invasion.

Bush linked that concept again when he was calling for democratization of Arab countries throughout the region and proposing a "Greater Middle East Initiative" to promote reform.

Flynt Leverett, who helped draft the administration's peace plan before leaving the National Security Council last year, said he believed the administration's shift in policy was aimed partly at increasing electoral support for Bush, reported Los Angeles Times Sunday.

But the main motivation, he said, "seemed to have been to bolster Sharon, who faces a referendum in his own Likud Party over the Gaza withdrawal".