This article was originally published by The Houston Chronicle and is republished with the authors' permission.

Jacob Walles, U.S. consul general in Jerusalem, meets with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (Maan Images)

President-elect Barack Obama, you wisely declared that you would make finding a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict a priority from your first day in office. If you capitalize on the enthusiasm your election has generated in the Middle East and exercise balanced and bold leadership, you will do much both to advance the cause of peace and to restore the United States' prestige in the region.

Rest assured, however, that your resolve will be tested. "Experienced" advisers will point out that the issues are complex, the leaders are weak and divided, and the costs of failure are formidable. They will urge you to take small steps and let the parties lead. The United States, they will argue, should support bilateral talks from the sidelines, but cannot want peace more than the parties themselves.

As former advisers to two of the governments in the region, and having participated in developing the Road Map peace plan, we assure you that is exactly the wrong approach. It is because the parties are weak that American leadership is indispensable. It is because bilateral negotiations yield only hollow communiques that you should use your political capital to forge consensus on substance. And it is because the issues are complex that small achievements - fleeting cease-fires, relocated checkpoints - are as politically costly as big ones. The Bush administration wasted six years before learning these lessons. You need not repeat its mistakes.

Aim high. The region will not hesitate to supply your administration with a series of crises that demand urgent attention - breakdowns in talks, escalations in violence, right-wing electoral triumphs, settlement expansion and the like. These crises cannot be ignored. But you must not allow managing the conflict to distract you from the crucial task of resolving it. Each passing day, Israel's occupation produces despair and facts on the ground that make the conflict ever more difficult to solve.

What is needed is a substantive framework for comprehensive peace, endowed with international support and ready for the parties' acceptance. Like the Road Map, you should develop this framework in consultation with the parties and international partners. But unlike the Road Map, it should specify a destination, defining the central terms of a settlement with sufficient precision to prevent interminable haggling over interpretation and sufficient formality to make rejection too politically costly for any serious party to contemplate.

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Build commitment, then capacity. Among the foundations of President Bush's failed Arab-Israeli policy was the notion that capacity must precede commitment, that Palestine become Switzerland before peace negotiations commence. You have pointed out the folly of such thinking in Iraq, arguing that an American commitment to early withdrawal would give Iraqis an incentive to put their house in order.

That is no less true for the Mideast peace process. Some portray the rejectionism of Hamas and Israel's right wing as an insurmountable obstacle to peace. It isn't. There is no peace for them to reject. However, a U.S.-backed framework for peace would oblige all parties to face the moment of truth in a way that a commitment to continue negotiations simply cannot. It would also do more to advance Palestinian governance and security reform than another decade of technical assistance.

Forge partnerships, but don't lose the courage to lead. You will need to build strong alliances on four different fronts. Within the United States, you must reach out to the growing segment of the American Jewish community that understands how crucial peace is for Israel's security. Within the international community, you should turn to the Quartet and Security Council for both legitimacy and cover. You should seek advice from Palestinian and other Arab partners at least as often as you dispense it. And you should cultivate support for peace across the Israeli political spectrum so that no prime minister feels she/he is out on a limb at the moment of truth. Assembling a policy team that is diverse in perspective and experience is a good starting point toward building these partnerships.

Precisely because compromise is costly, however, don't be surprised if peace partners abandon you. Be prepared for ingratitude and even hostility. At those times, Mr. President, you must not hesitate to lead. And if you are fair, independent, and solidly prepared, the Middle East will follow.

Dajani, a former legal adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team, teaches law at the University of the Pacific. Choukri-Fishere, a former adviser to the Egyptian foreign minister, teaches international relations at the American University in Cairo. Both served on the United Nations peace team in Jerusalem between 2001 and 2004.