-Caveat Lector- On 14 Apr 2002 at 4:09, Euphorian wrote: > From > http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=284647 > > }}}>Begin > 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? > > Also in Commentators > > Geordie Greig: The ties that bind > Rowan Pelling: Yes the Major is a bit dodgy. But he did pay for the > tickets, and it was Paris... Robert Fisk: Mr Powell must see for > himself what Israel inflicted on Jenin Jeremy Laurance: Can the NHS > learn to treat patients as customers? Adrian Hamilton: Oil is the > reason America wants to be rid of Saddam > > > > Legal | Contact us | Using our Content | � 2001 Independent Digital > (UK) Ltd End<{{{ > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > Forwarded as information only; no automatic endorsement > + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + > > In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material > is distributed without charge or profit to those who have > expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information > for non-profit research and educational purposes only. > + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + > > "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not > believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. > Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by > many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy > Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of > Teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation > and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is > conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and > live up to it." The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta + + + + + > + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + > > "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will > teach you to keep your mouth shut." > --- Ernest Hemingway
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