-Caveat Lector- http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4372383,00.html
Dear Mr Cheney... Afif Emile Safieh Tuesday March 12, 2002 The Guardian As the US vice-president passes through London to meet Mr Blair, on the way to several Middle Eastern capitals, could I address Mr Cheney through your pages? Dear Vice-president, I wish to draw your attention to the fact that for Arab officials and public opinion, the unfinished business of international diplomacy is the Arab- Israeli peace process. Ignoring this fact will mean that you are, Mr Vice-president, heading towards multiple double monologues that will deepen the misunderstanding and the mistrust. The Arab world has no ideological dispute with the US. At the worst moments of perceived American alignment on the Israeli policies and preferences, we kept our great expectations. We believe there are two Americas, two political cultures, two historical memories. There is the America of the early settlers who, on discovering the New World, clashed with the indigenous population and almost exterminated them. The America that established slavery and had an elastic conception of its frontiers, expanding shamelessly at the expense of Mexico. This is the America that Ariel Sharon always seeks an alliance with. When "shared values" are invoked, it is in this national experience that the common traditions are rooted. But there is another America. The America of the War of Independence against the colonial power. The America which took the painful decision to undergo a civil war to abolish slavery. The America of Woodrow Wilson, who came to the Versailles conference upholding the principle of self-determination. The America of the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King's dream. It is this America that we Palestinians appeal to, and seek an alliance with. Mr Vice-president, these two Americas do not coincide with Democratic America and Republican America. The two historical memories cross this political divide. George Bush ran for the presidency as a compassionate conservative. In our unipolar international system, if compassion were to be the guiding compass for American foreign policy, the world would be a better place to live in. During your visit to the area, I sincerely hope you will listen to the Palestinian cry for freedom from captivity and bondage. Today the situation can be described as follows: Israel cannot terminate the intifada and the intifada cannot end the occupation. Hence, to bypass the deadly impasse, we need a credible and decisive diplomatic initiative. The Saudi initiative offers a window of opportunity. US diplomacy should not allow it to stagnate and whither in talks about talks, in negotiations on pre- negotiations. Mr Vice-president, if the political willingness were there, a territory that was occupied in 1967 in less than six days, can also be evacuated in less than six days, so that the Israelis can rest on the seventh and we could start our fascinating journey in nation- building and economic reconstruction. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 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. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "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 + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." 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