"[The road map] certainly allows the unlimited building for your children and grandchildren, and I hope even for your great-grandchildren." - Ariel Sharon

5/29/2003: In the wake of a visit by Colin Powell to the Middle East, the corporate media and U.S. Government are awash in self-congratulation over the new "road map" which is supposedly a historic concession to Palestinians who have suffered 50 years of violent occupation by Israel. But anyone familiar with the situation knows that this new road map, especially with conditions set by the right-wing controlled Israeli Knesset, is nothing more than the same old stalling tactics that permit repression and ethnic cleansing against Arabs to roll on unchecked, with the full support of the U.S. Government.

The US/Israeli handling of the road map is being criticized by Palestinians and left-wing Jewish organizations. Aside from the usual Israeli demands that the Palestinian Authority control violent factions of the Palestinian resistance with a police force that simultaneously comes under attack by Israeli forces, this time around Ariel Sharon is openly bragging about continued illegal settlements and even the construction of a wall to enclose the Palestinian people. In addition, the U.S.'s war victories in Iraq are being used to pressure Syria and other neighboring Arab states into marginalizing and dismantling not only hardline Islamic factions like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but also long-standing leftist political parties such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (which is considered a terrorist organization by the US State Department). All the while, the US has given Israel a free reign to murder and intimidate international pacifist groups who are witnessing and protesting against the occupation.

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