This
is a road map to nowhere
By Ahmad Samih Khalidi, The Guardian,
March 19, 2003
The Palestinians need an end to occupation,
not bogus statehood -- George Bush and
Tony Blair's burst of enthusiasm for Palestine
is a transparent attempt to stretch the
sticking plaster of a Middle East settlement
over the gaping wound of the Iraq crisis.
The notion of "linkage" between the two
regional conflicts, hotly denied during
the first Gulf war, has now seemingly
become official Anglo-American policy.
That would not be such a bad thing if
the much-vaunted "road map", due to be
unveiled by George Bush this week, were
capable of leading to a real resolution
of the Palestinian-Israeli crises. Instead,
international Middle East peacemaking
has effectively been forced to adopt the
agenda of the Israeli right. Its basic
assumptions are as follows: the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is not the primary source of
insecurity in the area. Democracy, or
rather the lack of it, is. So democratisation
needs to come before any lasting peace.
Since Arabs and Muslims are, as we know,
largely immune to democratic contagion,
a long-term transitional phase will be
necessary. During that period, Israel
must be ready to quell Palestinian national
aspirations by force, while the Palestinians
and other Arabs should be put through
their democratic paces, until they prove
worthy of whatever crumbs of freedom and
independence can be proffered without
real cost or inconvenience to Israel.
Iraq,
the 51st state
By Matthew Engel, The Guardian, March
19, 2003
Now that war is finally upon us, we must
all hope or (if we share our leaders'
piety) pray that, within a matter of days,
the thing is done with, the Iraqi people
will be free of their oppressor and able
to enjoy the benefits of American-style
democracy. Here is a brief reprise of
some of the changes they can expect if
the US decides to give Iraq a facsimile
of its own highly regarded system.
1. At present, according to the official
website of the Iraqi National Assembly
("a major organ for the expression of
democracy") the 250 members are elected
by blocs of 50,000 voters throughout the
country. This suggests the outline principle
is the same as in the US. However, the
American constitution demands that the
600,000 inhabitants of its own capital
city should not be allowed to take part
in this process. The reasons are so obvious
that no one can remember what they are,
but most of those affected are poor and
black, anyway. To ensure true devotion
to US principles, the same will have to
apply in Iraq; doubtless the Americans
will break the news to the people of Baghdad
tactfully. 2. In Iraq's last presidential
election, Saddam Hussein received 100%
of the votes, a fact we know because officials
said so. Instead, the Iraqis can expect
a choice between two different American
electoral models, either (a) the one employed
in Florida in 2000, designed to ensure
that the candidate with the most support
loses, or (b) the modern version, as applied
in more advanced states, where people
vote on touch-screen computers. No one
has yet got 100% of the votes by this
method but Republican senator Chuck Hagel
of Nebraska did get 83%. We know this
because the company that built the machines
- which he part-owns - said so.
Guilty
until proven innocent
By Sherine Bahaa, Al-Ahram Weekly On-line,
13 - 19 March 2003
The Bush administration's war on terror
has targeted Arabs right, left and centre;
Sami Al-Arian is a case in point.
-- "Politics" was how computer science
professor Sami Al- Arian summed up the
motivation behind the phone book- sized
indictment statement levelled against
him by United States Attorney-General
John Ashcroft. Al-Arian's name hit the
headlines last month when he was taken
handcuffed from his house in Tampa, Florida,
at dawn and led away by the Federal Bureau
of Investigation. In addition to Al-Arian,
seven other men were charged, four of
whom live outside of the US, with "operating
a racketeering enterprise since 1984".
Al-Arian, a Kuwaiti-born professor of
Palestinian origin, did not need to hear
the 50-count, 120-page indictment statement
in order to realise that his foes have
finally succeeded in their campaign against
him. Al-Arian, one of the most significant
Arab Muslims in America, has been the
target of the local Zionist-oriented press
and US Jewish academics because of his
outspoken opposition to Israel's brutal
occupation of Palestine. Ironically enough,
it was Al-Arian who campaigned for US
President George Bush's election on behalf
of the Islamic Arab community in Florida,
the state that won him the vote. His understanding
of domestic US politics and how Arabs
can play a role in it has led him to believe
that Muslims can become part of the democratic
process in America. Agha Saeed, a political
science professor in California, said
that Al-Arian was "the most forthcoming
and active Arab Muslim in the US. He has
moved us from the irrelevant to the relevant".
White
House Claims: A Pattern of Deceit
By The Institute for Public Accuracy,
Dissident Voice, March 18, 2003
** President George Bush, March 17: "Under
Resolutions 678 and 687 -- both still
in effect -- the U.S. and our allies are
authorized to use force in ridding Iraq
of weapons of mass destruction.... Last
September, I went to the U.N. General
Assembly and urged the nations of the
world to unite and bring an end to this
danger. On November 8th, the Security
Council unanimously passed Resolution
1441, finding Iraq in material breach
of its obligations, and vowing serious
consequences if Iraq did not fully and
immediately disarm." ==>
John Negroponte, U.S. Ambassador to the
U.N., urging support for Resolution 1441,
quoted in Los Angeles Times, November
8, 2002: "There's no 'automaticity' and
this is a two-stage process, and in that
regard we have met the principal concerns
that have been expressed for the resolution."
He added: "Whatever violation there is,
or is judged to exist, will be dealt with
in the [Security] Council, and the Council
will have an opportunity to consider the
matter before any other action is taken."
-- http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-uniraq8nov08.story
....
The
Ministry of Newspeak
By Rogel Alpher, Haaretz, March 19, 2003
Dan and Shahar have apparently become
self-appointed ministers in an Orwellian
Ministry of Newspeak in the Sharon government...This
Newspeak is dangerous. It is emanating
from Israel Radio, the state broadcasting
authority. It is branding an Israeli media
outlet as having taken an illegitimate
stand - by distorting this stand and then
publicly repudiating it. --- Uri
Dan and Pe'er-li Shahar, the presenters
of Reshet Bet radio's "Inyan Aher" program
on Monday and Thursday mornings, made
fools of themselves last week. Dan was
seeing red over a March 9 headline in
the Haaretz English edition about the
IDF's killing of Dr. Ibrahim al-Makadme,
a Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip. The
offending headline read: "Head of Hamas
military wing assassinated by IDF in Gaza."
Dan insisted indignantly to his listeners
that the English word "assassination"
is equivalent to the Hebrew word retzah,
or "murder," and that the Haaretz English
Edition had thus reported to its readers
that the IDF had murdered Al-Makadme,
when in fact the correct term - in Dan's
view - was the one used in the Hebrew
edition - hitnakshut. The headline in
the Hebrew edition was: "Tzahal hitnakesh
be'ehad memanhigei ha'hamas be'retzuat
'Aza." Dan is mistaken. It happens. Hitnakshut
is assassination. Retzah is murder. And,
by the way, two plus two makes four. There
is no other English translation for the
word hitnakshut. If Dan doesn't have a
problem with the Hebrew wording, he shouldn't
have any problem with the English translation.
Numb
By MIFTAH, March 19, 2003
Finally, after months of uncertainty,
the US declared that the “window
of diplomacy has closed,” war on
Iraq is imminent. The Israeli public,
as always frantic for their ‘security,’
has been ordered to seal rooms in case
of a biological or chemical attack by
Saddam. The defense ministry broadcasted
its suggested equipment list for a sealed
room, including plastic sheeting and masking
tape to prepare the room, stocks of food
in hermetically sealed containers and
at least one liter of water per person
in sealed bottles. The Israeli army has
set up its highly advanced Arrow anti-missile
system to shoot down any Scuds and the
Israeli air forces is constantly flying
over Israeli airspace. These preparations
were conducted despite less than a zero
percent chance of an attack. Palestinians
on the other hand watched Israel’s
preparations with amusement, afterall
sealing a room of a demolished house or
one that has been made to look like Swiss
cheese by Israeli bullets is an impossible
task. The one liter of sealed water per
person Israel recommends its citizens
have is equivalent of what a Palestinian
family has to drink all day, though the
fact that Palestinian water is infested
with bacteria at least saves having to
place the water in sealed bottles. In
any case the equipment list recommended
for Israeli citizens costs money, which
Palestinian do not have thanks to Israel’s
chokehold of the Palestinian economy.
No, Palestinians do not fear Saddam’s
weapons of mass destruction, but they
do fear Israel’s vicious military
machine and the uspeakable operations
that Israel may conduct as world attention
is focused on Iraq.
Rachel
Corrie put a local face on faraway suffering
March 19, 2003
By Robert L. Jamieson, Jr., MIFTAH/Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, March 19, 2003
The real terrorist was an Israeli. His
weapon was not a bomb, but an army bulldozer.
And Rachel Corrie of Olympia, just 23,
was the victim, run over and killed by
bone-crushing steel, made in the USA.
You could certainly sum up Sunday's tragedy
in the Gaza Strip that way. That's in
sharp contrast to how Israel is often
portrayed in this unending Middle East
conflict: As the bigger victim of an inexcusable
Palestinian terror. Try telling that to
Rachel's family and friends. Tell that
to her colleagues in the International
Solidarity Movement, who believe in non-violent
opposition to the Israeli occupation of
the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Tell it
to the Palestinians who suffer brutality
and injustice at the hands of Israel's
government. People here may not know --
or care -- about Palestinians who suffer
a daily barrage of bullets and bulldozers.
Then someone like Rachel -- an activist
committed to peaceful protest -- is killed
and we all sit up and take notice. After
all, Rachel was American.
