I may be repeating myself, but at this stage I fear more a peace keeping force that would occupy the place more permanently, and that would appear to some Palestinians, Jews and Arabs, as a "saviour" (for a while).
Also, in a somewhat perverse way, possibly the installation of US, NATO.. bases in Palestine, could toll the end of the Zionist State, and its replacement with something even worse for the area. I sometimes feel that Israel has overlived its usefulness for the imperialists. Its costs, relatively, too much for advantages that could otherwise be obtained cheaper - in the financial, military, diplomatic, economic... sense. It's just a subject for thought. Alexander Javad Eskandarpour wrote: > > Comrades, > > This is another article by Robert Fisk. > Javad > > Robert Fisk: Mr Powell must see for himself what Israel inflicted on Jenin > The credibility of US policy on the conflict has been shattered > 14 April 2002 > Why doesn't Colin Powell go to Jenin? What has happened to the world's moral > compass – indeed to the United States – when America's most famous > ex-general, the Secretary of State of the most powerful country on earth, on > a supposedly desperate mission to stop the bloodshed in the Middle East, > fails to grasp what is taking place in front of his nose? The stench of > decaying corpses is wafting out of the Palestinian city. The Israeli army is > still keeping the Red Cross and journalists from seeing the evidence of the > mass killings that have taken place there. "Hundreds'' – on Israel's own > admission – have died, including civilians. Why, for God's sake, can't Mr > Powell do the decent thing and demand an explanation for the extraordinary, > sinister events that have taken place in Jenin? > > Instead, after joshing with Ariel Sharon after his arrival in Jerusalem on > Friday, Mr Powell is playing games, demanding that Yasser Arafat condemn > Friday's bloody suicide bombing in Jerusalem (total, six dead and 65 > wounded) while failing to utter more than a word of "concern'' for the > infinitely more terrible death toll in Jenin. Is Mr Powell frightened of the > Israelis? Does he really have to debase himself in this way? Does he think > that meeting Arafat, or refusing to do so, takes precedence over the > enormous humanitarian tragedy and slaughter that has overwhelmed the > Palestinians? Is President Bush – whose demand that Ariel Sharon withdraw > his troops from the West Bank has been blandly ignored – so gutless, so > cynical, as to allow this charade to continue? For this is the endgame, the > very final proof that the United States is no longer morally worthy of being > a Middle East peacemaker. > > Even for one who has witnessed so much duplicity in the Middle East, it is a > shock to reflect on the events of the past nine days. Let's just remember, > as the Americans would say, "the facts". Almost two weeks ago, the United > Nations Security Council, with the active participation and support of the > United States, demanded an immediate end to Israel's reoccupation of the > West Bank and Gaza. President Bush insisted that Mr Sharon should follow the > advice of "Israel's American friends'' and – because our own Mr Blair was > with the President at the time – of "Israel's British friends", and > withdraw. "When I say withdraw, I mean it," Mr Bush snapped three days > later. But of course, it's now clear that he meant nothing of the kind. > > Instead, he sent Mr Powell off on his "urgent" mission of peace, a journey > to Israel and the West Bank that would take the Secretary of State an > incredible eight days – just enough time, Mr Bush presumably thought, to > allow his "good friend'' Mr Sharon to finish his latest bloody adventure in > the West Bank. Supposedly unaware that Israel's chief of staff, Shoal Mofaz, > had told Mr Sharon that he needed at least eight weeks to "finish the job'' > of crushing the Palestinians, Mr Powell wandered off around the > Mediterranean, dawdling in Morocco, Spain, Egypt and Jordan before finally > washing up in Israel on Friday morning. If Washington firefighters took that > long to reach a blaze, the American capital would long ago have turned to > ashes. But of course, the purpose of Mr Powell's idleness was to allow > enough time for Jenin to be turned to ashes. Mission, I suppose, > accomplished. > > As Israel's indisciplined soldiery yesterday continued to hide their deeds > from the outside world by preventing the Red Cross, aid workers, ambulances > and journalists from entering the rubble of Jenin, Mr Powell was sitting > idly by in Israel, calling for the "utmost restraint'' from an army that has > not yet finished filling the mass graves of Jenin. That he should see a > visit to Yasser Arafat – the grotesque, corrupt old man of Ramallah – as the > make-or-break issue of his "peacemaking" shows just how skewed Mr Powell's > morality has become. Mr Arafat's advisers (let's not give any credit to the > would-be "martyr-chairman" of the Palestinian Authority for this) shrewdly > announced that it is for Mr Powell to condemn the killings in Jenin, for Mr > Arafat could be expected to condemn the vicious suicide bombing in Jerusalem > on Friday. And even though Mr Arafat mouthed the relevant words of > contrition and condemnation yesterday afternoon, it makes little difference. > > All last week, while Mr Sharon's soldiers were running amok in Jenin, White > House spokesman Ari Fleischer was playing the role of Mr Sharon's point man > in Washington. When Israel announced that its army was pulling out of three > tiny West Bank villages – so tiny that no one had ever heard of them > before – Mr Fleischer announced that this was "a step in the right > direction''. Then by Friday morning, when even the most dimwitted observer > had grasped that something was terribly wrong in Jenin, Mr Fleischer was > telling us that Sharon was "a man of peace''. How much longer, one wonders, > could this nonsense continue? > > Of course, the Palestinians – or whoever directs the sepulchral, nightmarish > campaign of suicide bombing, for it surely cannot be the preposterous Mr > Arafat – are going for the jugular. The Al Aqsa Brigades or Hamas or Islamic > Jihad clearly intend to ensure that Mr Sharon's ruthless operation fails > (the Israeli reoccupation, after all, was supposed to be preventing these > wicked Palestinian crimes) and to ensure that Mr Powell is made to look > impotent. They seem certain to accomplish both goals. The Palestinian > Authority, to all intents and purposes, has for now ceased to exist. That > was surely one of Mr Sharon's intentions. And Mr Powell's weakness, his > failure of nerve, his cowardice, are now likely to set off an > Israeli-Palestinian war even more terrible than what we have witnessed so > far. > > But let's pause for a quick journey down memory lane; to September 1982, > when Ariel Sharon was "rooting out the network of terror" in the Sabra and > Chatila refugee camps in Beirut. Before sending Israel's murderous > Phalangist militia allies into the camps, Mr Sharon told the world that the > Palestinians had assassinated the Phalangist leader, Bashir Gemayel. This > was totally untrue, but the Phalange believed him. And evidence is now > emerging in Beirut that, long after the Americans had called for Israel to > withdraw the killers from the camp, the Israeli army, commanded by then > Defence Minister Sharon, handed more than 1,000 survivors over to those same > murderers to be slaughtered over the following two weeks. This, primarily, > is why Mr Sharon is so worried by the attempts to indict him for war crimes > in Brussels. > > Hasn't Mr Powell glanced through the State Department archives for 1982? > Hasn't he read what Mr Sharon said back then, the same ranting about "terror > networks" and "rooting out terror" that he employs today? A lexicon which Mr > Powell himself is now enthusiastically using? Has he forgotten that the > Israeli Kahan commission held Mr Sharon "personally responsible'' for the > massacre of those 1,700 civilians? Does Mr Powell really think that Jenin, > albeit on a smaller scale, is much different? Even if we dismiss all the > Palestinian claims of civilian butchery, extrajudicial executions and the > wholesale destruction of thousands of homes, what on earth does he think the > Israelis are hiding in Jenin? Why doesn't he go and look? > > Yes, the Palestinians' suicide campaign is immoral, unforgivable, > insupportable. One day, the Arabs – never ones to look in the mirror when it > comes to their own crimes – will have to acknowledge the sheer cruelty of > their tactics. They have not done this so far. But since the Israelis never > attempted to confront the immorality of shooting to death child > stone-throwers in the early days of the intifada or the evil of their > reckless death squads who went around murdering Palestinians on their wanted > list, along with the usual clutch of women and kids who got in the way, is > this any wonder? > > In the annals of war, the conflict in the Middle East has reached a new > apogee, but the story of the United States' involvement in the Middle East > will never be the same again. Thanks to Mr Powell, President Bush and Mr > Sharon, America's credibility has been shattered. Israel, it turns out, does > indeed run US policy in the region. The Secretary of State sings from the > Israeli songbook. So when, oh when, will the Europeans screw their courage > to the sticking-place and become the peacemakers of the Middle East? > > _______________________________________________ > Marxist-Leninist-List mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxist-leninist-list -- Les "Editions Democrite" publient un mensuel en francais : > "Les dossiers du BIP" avec des traductions d'articles provenant de la > presse communiste(grecque, allemande, anglaise, turque, russe, espagnole, > portugaise...)sur des evenements qui interessent des lecteurs communistes. > Editions Democrite, 52, bld Roger Salengro, 93190 LIVRY-GARGAN, FRANCE > e-mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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