Israel’s policy of murder

THE report that Israel has “revived” its assassination policy implies that Tel Aviv had discontinued it. The murder of Palestinian leaders and the genocide of the people of Palestine have been an essential element of Zionist policy since the “mandate” days. After the coming into being of Israel in 1948, Tel Aviv has pursued these two goals as a state policy. Deir Yassin, Sabra-Chatila and Jenin as the scenes of crime and Abu Jihad, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rentissi as the victims are names that testify to these basic thrusts of Israeli policy. With the exception of Abu Jihad, the man involved with all these massacres and assassinations is Mr Ariel Sharon, Israel’s Prime Minister. On Tuesday, he sabotaged the summit meeting between himself and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Ever since he became prime minister in February 2001, Mr Sharon has shown no interest in the peace process. The late Yasser Arafat was then at the helm, and Mr Sharon refused to negotiate with him. His excuse was that the Palestinian leader had failed to rein in Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants. Unfortunately, he received full backing from the Bush administration in sabotaging the peace process. He went on to destroy Mr Arafat’s Ramallah headquarters and made him a virtual prisoner. Both Tel Aviv and Washington then circumvented the peace process by evading the real issue — the need for Israel to withdraw from occupied territories. Instead, they focussed on Mr Arafat’s personality, accused him of corruption, charged him with the failure to control Gaza militants and demanded reforms in the Palestinian Authority. These were merely devices to obfuscate the Palestinian issue and evade the responsibility under the Oslo accords. With Mr Arafat’s death, Mr Sharon now has a chance to prove his sincerity to the peace process. Instead, he has now levelled the same charges against Mr Abbas.

At their meeting in Al Quds on Tuesday, Mr Sharon accused the Palestinian president of failing to halt the militants’ attacks. In fact, wire agencies quoted Palestinian officials saying that Mr Sharon gave “a humiliating lecture” to Mr Abbas and linked any progress towards peace to the PA’s ability to dismantle “terrorist infrastructure”. In reply, Mr Abbas asserted that he had done everything possible to rein in militants and rejected Mr Sharon’s allegations. The

result was that the summit ended without any progress — precisely what Mr Sharon wanted. If he had been true to his words, control over two Palestinian cities — Bethlehem and Qalqilya — should have been transferred to the PA several months ago. Again, Mr Sharon hedged, finding an excuse in familiar charges.

The hopes aroused by the Sharm al-Sheikh summit in February have now evaporated. There is little possibility of Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank coming to an end because there is no roadmap. The Oslo process is long dead, and the roadmap crafted by the Quartet — the US, EU, UN and Russia — in 2003 was torpedoed by Israel after accepting it. On a visit to the White House, Mr Sharon said, with Mr Bush agreeing, that Israel would keep some West Bank land even after withdrawing from the rest of it. That scuttled it. On Wednesday, the

White House spokesman declined to reprimand Israel for reviving its assassination policy. America’s carte blanche to Israel is one of the major reasons why the Jewish state will never accept a two-state solution.

Balochistan budget

BALOCHISTAN’S Rs46.37 billion budget for 2005-06 unveiled on Wednesday by finance minister Syed Ehsan Shah is a case of a poor man reeling under the heavy burden of Rs13.24 billion in deficit. Also left unanswered is the critical question of the exact amount that Balochistan can expect to receive in federal grants to bridge the existing gap between its receipts and expenditure. Opposition members in the provincial assembly made much of the absence of an equitable NFC award during the presentation of the budget, but forgot to mention the non-materialization so far of the promised Balochistan uplift package which Islamabad has been dangling before it since March. The province cannot be expected to raise more money when its vital natural resources are controlled by the federal government, or seek foreign assistance on its own to fill the existing gap in its finances. It was perhaps for this reason that the skimpy budget document prepared by the finance minister did not have a sectorwise breakdown of Rs11.76 billion earmarked for annual development programmes. This amount and more is needed just to see the province through the next fiscal year. The announcement by the finance minister that education up to intermediate will henceforth be free of cost is a timely step. This should be seen in the context of the new Gwadar seaport opening by the year’s end, which will throw open many new employment opportunities requiring educated young people. The Balochistan government should have also thought of setting up technical training institutes to train a qualified and skilled local workforce.

Considering the smaller provinces’ financial needs, President Pervez Musharraf should expedite the announcement of an equitable NFC award — a task entrusted to him by the four chief ministers when they last met on May 30 to discuss the issue. Besides, the prime minister must also fulfill his government’s promise of offering Balochistan a special uplift package to ease the province’s financial constraints. Unless these steps are taken soon, Balochistan’s poor will continue to suffer deprivation, made worse by some of its selfish tribal leaders and by Islamabad through its unkept promises.

Jatoi-Mahar settlement

AN 18-year-old dispute between the Jatoi and Mahar tribes in Sindh, which started as a row over a piece of agricultural land, was resolved on Sunday at a meeting presided over by the provincial chief minister in Sukkur. This should bring some relief to those most affected by the bloody dispute, which, according to one estimate, has resulted in the loss of over 250 lives. However, one cannot help viewing it with some apprehension as earlier jirgas held to solve the same dispute failed. The meeting on Sunday ordered that damages be paid to the families of the 28 deceased in the last bout of killings between the two warring tribes. It was also decided that if a murder takes place in the future, one million rupees would be imposed as a fine. Perhaps the last edict was meant to serve as a warning, but given that both sides have paid hefty fines in the past, it seems that nothing can act as a deterrent against violence.

For years we have been hearing of the need to reform the primitive tribal system to which millions are held hostage by tradition. But no such attempt is in sight. In the present case, though the row continued, involving the killing of so many people in both sides, no solution could be found until Sunday’s. The same is true in other parts of the country besieged as they are by very many tribal disputes. Children don’t have schools to go to; nor do tribal chieftains think it their responsibility to educate future generations. Power brokers need the support of tribal leaders without which they cannot consolidate their power. Expecting them to pressurize the sardars into changing attitudes is pointless. The government must seriously take up the question of social reforms in rural areas, which, along with education, may do away with the abominable tribal system of which jirgas are an integrated part.