Low Graphics Site
 
 
 
 
 
 
|
|
|
|
April 19, 2002
|
Friday
|
Safar 5, 1423
|
Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
A well-designed failure
Temporary accord: water
A resounding victory
A well-designed failure
IF the Powell mission has failed, it is because the Bush administration wanted it to fail. If Israel defied America, then it is because the US wanted Israel to defy it. Such are the compulsions of America’s domestic politics. Shockingly, Colin Powell justified Israel’s intransigence when he said ceasefire was “not a relevant term at the moment.” What else is relevant then — negotiations? Even a novice in diplomacy knows that talks are out of the question in the present scenario. The real issue is effecting a ceasefire, followed by a pullout by the Israeli forces, followed still later — other things going well — by talks aimed at reviving the peace process. The one party, however, that is interested neither in ceasefire nor in talks is Israel, for Ariel Sharon has told the US secretary of state that it may end its reoccupation of the West Bank “within a week or so.” In other words — while the whole world wants the Palestinians’ massacre to end immediately — Israel not only wants the slaughter to continue for at least another week; it has the American secretary of state on its hand to support its immoral position by declaring that “ceasefire is not a relevant term at the moment.” That Mr Powell should return home empty-handed two weeks after President Bush asked Tel Aviv to withdraw shows how little value Mr Bush himself attaches to what he says when it comes to Israel.
International wire services say Mr Powell’s failure is a blow to America’s prestige. It indeed is. But the one country that does not care about America’s prestige is America itself. That even Hosni Mobarak should refuse to see Mr Powell because he was “indisposed” goes to show how Washington’s most trusted friend in the Arab world feels disappointed over what appears increasingly to be Washington’s collusion with Tel Aviv on the issue. In fact, Zbigniew Brzezinski, security adviser during the Carter administration, hinted in a newspaper interview that Israel had invaded the West Bank after America “winked.”
The humanitarian situation in the occupied territories is now assuming catastrophic proportions. Even the traditionally pro-Zionist sections of the western media are reporting Israeli violations of the laws of war and its crimes against the civilian population. In Jenin, bodies of women and children are rotting under the debris of buildings destroyed by Israeli troops. Medical supplies and food have been blocked by the occupying forces, while women are delivering without medical aid. As Saeb Erekat correctly remarked, Mr Powell was leaving the Middle East at a time when the situation in the region was “much worse” than when he came. Arab analysts have correctly guessed that the failure of the Powell mission would give Israel an opportunity to expand the war.
Meanwhile, the least the international community can do is to provide succour to the people of the West Bank. The UN h
|