US MediationIsrael and Palestine
The US would like to believe it is fair and balanced and a fair broker for the conflict. Most of the rest of the world, and especially the Arab street, see things otherwise. Why? What do do we say and do to promote that view? Do we even recognise that we do it?
Friday, August 29, 2003
Ha'aretz - Article: "
Last Update: 25/09/2002 02:42
U.S. asks Israel to comply with UN resolution on Muqata siege
By Shlomo Shamir and Amnon Barzilai, Ha'aretz Correspondents, and Agencies
The United States asked Israel on Tuesday to comply with the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an end to the IDF siege of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, but also said that the road to peace began with finding new Palestinian leaders, as President George W. Bush demanded in a keynote speech on Middle East policy in June.
'We do want the Israelis to comply with this resolution,' said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. 'We continue to work on issues such as withdrawal, and we've urged them to refrain from further action in and around Ramallah.' "
Excite News: "Rumsfeld Slams Palestinian Gov't
Aug 6, 4:58 PM (ET)
By BARRY SCHWEID
WASHINGTON (AP) - As three Palestinian Cabinet ministers headed to Washington, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld slammed the Palestinian Authority, calling it entangled with terror, and said he doubted Israel could turn over territory to it."
...
Rumsfeld declined to call on Israel to abandon Jewish settlements. He referred to the West Bank as "so-called occupied territory," signaling he does not share the Bush administration's view of Israel's presence on the land.
"My feelings about the so-called occupied territories are that there was a war," Rumsfeld said. "Israel urged neighboring countries not to get involved in it once it started. They all jumped in and they lost a lot of real estate to Israel because Israel prevailed in the conflict."
...
But, he said, "the displacement of people through the demolition of homes and property can undermine trust and confidence."
Economist.com | Middle East: "George Bush's plan for peace
Jun 27th 2002
From The Economist print edition
Without repairs, America's one-sided peace “vision” will do little to bring peace to the Middle East
TO A world that had been longing for an all-powerful America to rescue the Israelis and Palestinians from their self-inflicted purgatory, it was the dampest of damp squibs. Even Israelis admitted that the peace plan George Bush and his divided administration set forth this week could just as well have been written by their own prime minister, Ariel Sharon. "
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Times Online: "June 26, 2002
'Sharon could have written speech'
From Ross Dunn in Jerusalem
LEADING Israeli commentators said yesterday that President Bush's speech on the Middle East was so pro-Israel that it might have been written by Ariel Sharon.
Nahum Barnea, a columnist for the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth, said: Sharon can demand copyright on the speech -- he couldn't have dreamt of a more pleasant address."
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | One-sided offer that will change nothing: "One-sided offer that will change nothing
Suzanne Goldenberg in Jerusalem
Tuesday June 25, 2002
The Guardian
Hours before President Bush delivered his vision for Middle East peace yesterday, Israeli tanks roared up to the headquarters of Yasser Arafat and a sixth Palestinian town fell under Israeli military occupation.
Mr Bush made no mention of either fact. Instead, his promise of a Palestinian state was contingent on a call to Palestinians to overthrow their elected leader, Yasser Arafat, and to create a western-style democracy that exists nowhere else in the Arab world.
In stark contrast, the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, faced no immediate pressure for an end to the army's re-occupation of West Bank towns, or for a freeze on illegal Jewish settlements. Mr Sharon has overseen 34 new outposts during his 15 months in power. "
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Jonathan Freedland: George W's bloody folly: "George W's bloody folly
Bush's fantasy Middle East plan is bound to fail. It will strengthen those who want war, not peace
Jonathan Freedland
Wednesday June 26, 2002
The Guardian
That was a fantastic speech. Quite literally, fantastic. George Bush's address on the Middle East, delivered outside the White House on Monday evening, consisted, from beginning to end, of fantasy.
It bore so little relation to reality that diplomats around the world spent yesterday shaking their heads in disbelief, before sinking into gloom and despair...
The core of the president's message was that the Palestinians must embark on a sweeping process of internal reform before they can even think about getting back to the negotiating table. They must transform themselves into a democratic market economy, free of corruption and with a separate judiciary and legislature if they are to be considered eligible for statehood - which, when it comes, will be merely provisional. "
[The United Kingdom -- America's strongest ally -- did not meet the president's requirements for democracy ... Ed.]
Ha'aretz - Article: "State Dept. blasts decision to deport terrorists' relatives
By Nathan Guttman and Moshe Reinfeld, Ha'aretz Correspondent, Ha'aretz Service and Agencies
The U.S. State Department reiterated Tuesday its criticism of the Israeli decision to expel relatives of suicide bombers found to have been involved in terror to the Gaza Strip.
The State Department spokesman on Middle Eastern affairs, Greg Sullivan, said that the United States expects that Israel's actions in the war against terror would be based on information against specific suspects, and not against their relatives.
He added that this message was passed on to Israel's political leadership by the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv last week, when the original decision to expel the Palestinians was first taken. 'Punishing the innocent will not help Israel's security,' he added "
Why Bush Dances to Sharon's Tune: "April 14, 2002
Why Bush dances to Sharon's tune
Israel's right-wing Likud party dominates U.S. Mideast policy through a powerful lobby in the American Congress
By ERIC MARGOLIS
Contributing Foreign Editor
Toronto Sun
Who really is running America's Mideast policy? Last week, the astounded world saw the grotesque spectacle of President George W. Bush pleading in vain with Ariel Sharon, leader of a nation of only 6.3 million people which receives almost $5 billion in annual U.S. aid, to cease laying waste the Occupied West Bank.
Ignoring worldwide condemnation and demands from the UN Security Council, Sharon ordered his armour, much of it American-supplied, to accelerate shooting up and bulldozing Palestinian towns, refugee camps and all symbols of Palestinian identity or statehood. "
Telegraph | News | Humiliated Powell abandons peace trip: "Humiliated Powell abandons peace trip
By Alan Philps in Jerusalem
(Filed: 18/04/2002)
...
Colin Powell: failed to persuade Ariel Sharon to withdraw his troops
Mr Powell's tour was a stunning humiliation, even by the standards of Middle East diplomacy, where success is rare. He failed to force the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, to withdraw troops from West Bank cities and towns, which was the primary purpose of his mission"
Telegraph | News | Simpson on Sunday: Success of Arab summit isolates Israel and America: "Simpson on Sunday: Success of Arab summit isolates Israel and America
By John Simpson
(Filed: 31/03/2002)
...
At the same time, President Bush has been unable to broker a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, because he and his colleagues (who ought to have known better, even if he didn't) have ranged themselves wholeheartedly on Israel's side."
Telegraph | News | Gaza sealed despite pledge to US: "Gaza sealed despite pledge to US
By Harry de Quetteville in Jerusalem
(Filed: 13/05/2003)
Israel sealed off the Gaza Strip yesterday only hours after promising Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, that it would ease restrictions on Palestinians' movements."
Telegraph | News | Israel's wall sparks row among US Jews: "The letter was co-signed by Lawrence Eagleburger, the former secretary of state under President Bush Snr, who is a close friend of Mr Bronfman.
...
They also urged the American president to exert pressure on Israel and apply 'the same straightforwardness' with the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, as the American leader had shown with the Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas."
