Sharon the merciless and Arafat the corrupt have nothing meaningful to
offer each other
Robert Fisk in Jerusalem
04 May 2002
Internal links
World powers step up demands for Arab-Israeli peace
Robert Fisk: Sharon and Arafat have nothing meaningful to offer each
other
Self-delusion has crossed the Atlantic. George Bush is having visions
again – just as he did before the most recent bloodbath in Israel and
Palestine – and Colin Powell, whose latest Middle East mission was a
wholesale disaster, wants to devise "a set of principles" for an
Arab-Israeli peace. And, as usual, it is the occupied, not the occupier, who
is warned this is the "last chance" for peace.
That the United States wants to enlist the Europeans, Russia and the
UN in its plans for a Middle East peace conference is perhaps the only sign
of realism in the initiative. Otherwise, it's the same old twaddle.
Yasser Arafat has to earn "trust" – this from the White House
spokesman, Ari Fleischer – and will not, for the moment, receive any
invitations to the White House. He has to curb "terror". But Ariel Sharon,
whose army was accused of war crimes in Jenin by Human Rights Watch
yesterday, will be joshing with Mr Bush in Washington next week.
It was impossible, in Jerusalem yesterday, to take any of this
seriously.
Mr Arafat had just emerged from his Ramallah headquarters to call the
Israelis "Nazis" while Mr Sharon, only two days earlier, had announced that
Netzarim, the illegal Jewish settlement in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, was
the same as Tel Aviv. Since Mr Sharon came to power, no fewer than 34 new
settlements or outposts for Jews, and Jews only, on Arab land, have been
constructed.
A glance at the events of the past 24 hours shows just how far the
Bush administration has strayed from reality. For days, the US President
demanded that Israel withdraw its troops from West Bank cities. Mr Sharon
simply ignored him. "When I say withdraw, I mean it," Mr Bush snapped at one
point. Mr Sharon ignored him.
Yesterday, as Mr Powell warned Mr Arafat that it was his "last chance"
to show his leadership, the Israeli Prime Minister was sending an armoured
column to re-invade the Palestinian city of Nablus for the second time in
two weeks. There was to be no "last chance" for Mr Sharon; only for the
iniquitous Mr Arafat.
And what on earth, one wondered, was the point in parading the UN
secretary general, Kofi Annan, alongside Mr Powell on Thursday night? The UN
Security Council resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal from
Palestinian Authority areas of the West Bank – supported by the United
States – is still being flagrantly ignored by Israel. Only a day earlier, Mr
Annan was forced, in utter humiliation, to disband his fact-finding mission
to Jenin after Israel refused to accept it. So what was his presence
supposed to mean? The impotent secretary general just stood next to the
equally impotent US Secretary of State.
The squalid, corrupt little dictator of Ramallah, Mr Arafat, and the
brutal, merciless leader of the Middle East's mightiest army, Mr Sharon,
have nothing to offer each other. Mr Arafat cannot fulfil his required role
of colonial governor – to "control his own people" – while Mr Sharon cannot
fulfil his promise to provide Israelis with security. As one of his legal
advisers admitted hours after Washington's call for a peace conference, the
diminution in Palestinian violence "won't last for ever".
Never, since the end of the 1991 Gulf War, have Israelis and
Palestinians been so far apart. So what possible inducements can Washington
extend to either side? If Mr Arafat wants an end to occupation and to
settlements on Palestinian land, and a capital in east Jerusalem, Mr Sharon
will not oblige. If Mr Sharon wants to go on building settlements and
maintaining the occupation and claiming all of Jerusalem as the "eternal and
unified capital of Israel", Mr Arafat will not oblige.
Meanwhile, the Americans blissfully hope that Mr Bush's "visions" – of
Israeli and Palestinian states happily co-existing side by side – will
survive the next two months. How is this possible? It is only a matter of
time before the next vicious Palestinian suicide bomber blows up himself or
herself in an Israeli city. And thus only a matter of time before Israel
smashes its way into West Bank cities all over again.
In fact, Israel doesn't need an excuse to do this any more.
Yesterday's thrust into Nablus was another precedent. Far from being a
retaliation, Israel did not invade Palestinian territory in response to
Palestinian attacks. It said it had entered Nablus to prevent "future"
attacks. Needless to say, the nature of this precedent went unreported.
So we are back to the "last chance". But "last chance" for what? If Mr
Arafat does not earn that all-purpose American "trust", what is supposed to
happen? Is he to be liquidated? Will the Americans choose another
Palestinian leader? Or will they just let the Israelis build more
settlements (something the Israelis are doing anyway) and abandon the
"visions" and walk away from the Palestinians, leaving them to the mercy of
Mr Sharon and his dreams of a Greater Israel?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
