← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Zoroaster
Thread ID: 10010 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2003-09-24
2003-09-24 13:52 | User Profile
[url]http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=20030922160831605[/url]
"The US Agency for International Development recently announced that it had finalized a deal that provides Israel with financial aid for $10 billion .."
By HASSAN TAHSIN
Is there a single shred of hope left for the road map? To what degree is the United States committed to moving the peace process forward and implementing its presidentââ¬â¢s personal promise to achieve peace and create a Palestinian state? They were no more than words and promises, totally at odds with the gloomy reality.
Since the latest initiative was proposed and up to now, nothing meaningful has been achieved ââ¬â Israel still hasnââ¬â¢t withdrawn to its pre-September 2000 borders nor has it handed control of the Palestinian towns to the Palestinian Authority as was agreed. It has continued to arrest Palestinian civilians and shown no respect for the cease-fire that it was declaredly committed to.
Moreover, Sharon continues to take provocative steps that paralyze the peace process, some of which resulted in Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen stepping down. Work continues on the controversial dividing wall. Israel refuses to release Palestinian prisoners and has continued to enforce a policy of collective punishment to drive Palestinians out of the country. However, the penultimate transgression and the clearest form of state terrorism was Israelââ¬â¢s declared aim to get rid of Yasser Arafat, either by expulsion or assassination.
Despite Israelââ¬â¢s transgressions and trampling of the most elemental of international laws, the US as usual continues to support it. More gallingly, despite Israelââ¬â¢s refusal to abide by Americaââ¬â¢s requests to cease building the dividing wall and in spite of the US administrationââ¬â¢s threats to impose financial penalties on Israel should it continue to spend US money on building new settlements and the wall, the US Agency for International Development recently announced that it had finalized a deal that provides Israel with financial aid for $10 billion. More recently the US challenged the international consensus and used its veto in the UN Security Council on a resolution to prevent Israel from expelling Yasser Arafat.
In light of these events, the Palestinian Authority announced its readiness to implement a total cease-fire that would be binding on both sides, but the spokesman for the Israeli PM announced his countryââ¬â¢s rejection of this offer. Sadly, the Israeli Parliament has read into US support a green light to obliterate the road map and assassinate Arafat. All thatââ¬â¢s left is to find the right time to carry out the assassination, thus putting the Palestinian people and their leadership under more pressure to grant even more concessions until they lose all hope of establishing their own state.
We must bear in mind that Israel doesnââ¬â¢t want peace, because that would mean the end of war. Israeli society is internally fractured and is only held together during times of war and defending the state. If the war ends, that diverse and discordant society will crumble. The end of war would also mean the stabilization of the regionââ¬â¢s status and thereby the end of the dream of Greater Israel. It would also mean the creation of a Palestinian state, which Israel totally rejects because it means the loss of the West Bank and Gaza. The US administration knows very well that Sharon will never agree to the creation of a Palestinian state while he is in power ââ¬â unfortunately they continue to assist him in his terrorist acts. Their own commitment to the creation of the Palestinian state was a mere proposal, essential prior to the invasion of Iraq ââ¬â no more no less, just like the Madrid peace conference. The road map has been well and truly ignored by Sharon. Arafatââ¬â¢s assassination will not end the Arab-Israeli conflict; in fact, it will only make it more intense and may widen the circle of violence in the region. Is this then the kind of peace and democracy that Washington wants to spread throughout the Middle East?
Source: Arab News ââ¬â [url]www.arabnews.com[/url]
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The Road Map was a ruse from the beginning--a smoke screen to obscure Zionist control of the Bush Administration and to cover the invasion of Iraq.
By publicly blaming Arafat for the bloodshed and subsequent failure of the Road Map, Bush has endorsed the official Israeli line to either assassinate or expell Arrafat from the illegally occupied territories. This act, if carried out, will only inflame the Muslim world further, increasing the likelihood of terrorist attacks on US soil.
Bush's subservience to Sharon and his warmongering rhetoric threaten the lives of innocent Americans.
-Z-