Why Does America Hate
Us?
By
Mohammed Shaker Abdallah
Arabic Media Internet
Network
9-23-3
- Palestinians are once more stunned by the recent U.S.
veto in the U.N. Security Council to block a resolution demanding an
Israeli retraction from a decision to expel President Yasser Arafat.
They recollect a series of such vetoes almost all of which targeted
their national rights of security and protection. Every time the
international community opts to defend the legitimate rights of the
Palestinians, to rid them or less from the Israeli atrocities or to
condemn the settlement activities in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, the
Americans step in to provide a safety net for the Israeli
aggressions.
-
- Another notorious American veto bluntly killed a
proposal to send an international peacekeeping force to the region that
would provide both protection to the Palestinian innocent civilians and
deterrence against potential suicidal bombings inside Israel . The
question that then floated in Palestinian minds was: What is wrong with
that proposal? It was really balanced and designed to satisfy the
demands of the Israelis and Palestinians alike.
-
- The American heritage has traditionally stood beside
tortured nations and sought to lift suffering from within their
societies. From the dawn of American history the values of freedom and
human rights were the pillars of the U.S.A. social, political and
cultural structure. Yet, when any outside observer evaluates the
American attitude toward the oppressed Palestinian people, he would only
shudder at the paradoxical contrast.
-
- Palestinians all through the recorded history of their
relationship with America have been friends and admirers. Only when the
U.S. sided with Israeli occupation did they complain or revolt, and the
very few incidents that occurred during the1970 's should be regarded as
signs of protest, and not hostility or ferocity.
-
- For Palestinians, America was never the enemy, but the
power that holds the key for a lasting peace and yet insists on keeping
the door tightly locked. The principles of justice, to which the U.S.
presumably adhere, dictate that it backs the natural rights of the
Palestinians - to be free from occupation, oppression and foreign
dominance, as this was the direct cause of the American Revolution
against the British tyranny and cruelty.
-
- It is very strange and unbelievable that the U.S.A.
goes that far in standing in the way of Palestinian aspirations. Even
the pretext for this unaccountable position, the strategic relationship
with Israel , seems too fragile to be comprehended. The security of the
Jewish state, and its overall welfare now, as ever, is a matter of
doubts or questions, and the quest for its destruction is tantamount to
a demand of sheer madness.
-
- No, it is not the American interest in the existence
of Israel that guides the U.S. policies in the region. Had this been the
American goal things would be quite different and, hopefully, much
better. These policies virtually are circumstantial, shallow and even
near-sighted. A more prudent approach would be exerting excessive
efforts to create a convenient, peaceful and cordial atmosphere in the
historical Palestine within which both Jews and Arabs can willingly and
deliberately co-exist and prosper.
-
- America can spare its vetoes to the more crucial
global issues that really threaten the international peace. Wielding the
sword of a veto against the security of and steadfastness of the
Palestinians only serves to raise a persistent Palestinian exclamative
question: Why does America hate us to that extent?
-
- - Mohammed Shaker Abdallah is the political editor of
Al Quds Arabic daily
-
- � 2001 Arabic Media Internet Network
-
- http://www.amin.org/eng/mohammad_shaker_abdallah/2003/sept18.html
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