| http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20020329230303712
Sharon, Not Bush, Controls US Foreign Policy Friday, March 29 2002 @ 11:03 PM GMT By Larry Hurlock for PalestineChronicle.com In an attempt to destroy the Saudi Peace Proposal at the March 26th Arab Summit, fifty-two United States Senators signed a letter to President Bush five days earlier, on March 21st, telling him not to allow Vice President Cheney to meet with the Palestinian leader, Yassar Arafat. The signal was immediately received by Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister. Armed with this Congressional political support, he turned his back on pleas from the President and Vice-President to allow Arafat to attend the Arab Summit under honorable terms. The rest is history. Undaunted, the Arab world unanimously agreed that recognition of Israel was possible, despite the attempt to scuttle the Summit's consideration of the peace initiative by both Israel and the U.S. Senate. The letter in question appears on the American Israeli Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC) website. It is displayed as if the letterhead was supplied by them, they had drafted the letter, and they had rounded up the signatures, which is probably all true. Certainly they are displaying it as their achievement. Our President is being told by these Senators, who are careful not to use their official office or an actual vote of record, that he is not to exercise the duty of his office to conduct foreign policy. They interfered with another branch of government at the behest of a lobby for a foreign government (for that is certainly AIPAC's function). This disregard for the American people is astounding. Given the timing of the letter, its function was certainly obvious to those who signed it. They were aware President Bush was putting pressure on Ariel Sharon to respond to the Saudi peace proposal, however seminal in structure. Disrupting Arafat's ability to lead a Palestinian delegation into the international arena at the Summit became a paramount objective for Israel. That is possibly because the proposal clearly requires Sharon, the former Minister of Infrastructure for Israel, to give up his dream of removing the Palestinians from the land and replacing them with occupation camps of so-called "settlers." As in the past, AIPAC was sending two signals with one letter. This particular technique, unofficial letters used as signals, is their stock in trade. The President was being told by the Senate he would be denied budgetary leverage over Sharon, no matter what Sharon did. Receiving the same signal, Sharon knew he could safely keep the Palestinian leader imprisoned during the upcoming Arab Summit without consequences. Sure enough, when VP Cheney called Sharon asking him to let Arafat attend, he refused, secure in the knowledge that the United States Senate would never have the courage to cross the Israeli lobby. Every American should tell their President they see through this interference with his ability to govern. Every Palestinian supporter should immediately go to the AIPAC website and make copies of the letter for distribution to friends. Explain the significance of the date of the letter, March 21, 2002. It was a signal to Israel that they could freely imprison the leader of Palestine on the eve of an Arab Summit, a meeting to offer recognition to the Israelis should they agree to abide by conditions sought by the United Nations for years...conditions some Israelis want to bury along with Palestinian dreams. Let us never forget that on the first day of spring of the year 2002, United States Senators signaled Ariel Sharon that he, not President Bush, was in control of our Middle East Policy. The letter may be viewed and copied at: http://www.aipac.org/documents/AIPACletter032502.html The President and Vice President may be reached at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ |
