BEIRUT: Former Lebanese prime minister Dr Salim Hose remarked that the Arabs are dismayed by the fact that American positions concerning the Middle East have in effect been subordinated to Israel’s wishes. The injunction comes from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and the accommodation from US President George W. Bush.

For example, Sharon had suggested a conference on the Middle East, and now this has become an American demand. It was Sharon who declared that an overhaul of the Palestinian Authority should precede any attempt at resuming peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel. Now this also has become an American demand.

Israel mounted numerous brutal assaults against Palestinian territories inside the West Bank, committing atrocities in densely populated areas and refugee camps, without the slightest protest from the American administration. As Israel is America’s close ally, it was legitimate for Arabs to perceive the United States as Israel’s tacit accessory in those devastating assaults.

Sharon is evidently determined to get rid of Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestinian Authority. It is felt in the Arab world that the American position, with respect to Arafat, is leaning toward Sharon’s stand.

There is a strong feeling on the Arab side that the precondition of reforming the Palestinian Authority is nothing but a delaying tactic. The US administration should be aware that no real reform is feasible except in a free, democratic atmosphere in the occupied Palestinian territories.

It seems that the priorities have been perversely set. The territories ought to be liberated from occupation first, and an independent Palestinian state be established. Then, and only then, can adequate reforms be undertaken with a modicum of democracy prevailing.

It is widely believed on the Arab side that the American administration is betraying the very values it doggedly preaches as it denies the Palestinians the basic human right of freedom.

How credible can the administration’s call for human rights on the world scene be when it denies the Palestinian people its natural right to freedom and human dignity?

America’s prejudice against the Arabs borders on racial discrimination.

America’s unqualified support of Israel in holding on to the occupied Palestinian territories projects the American administration as an accomplice in continued violation of international resolutions.

The view in the Middle East is that Israel cannot keep the occupied Palestinian territories and still preserve its Jewish and democratic character.

Israel cannot uphold its character as both a Jewish and a democratic state unless, of course, it precipitates forced mass migration of Arabs. That is inconceivable in a world that adheres to human rights.