Saudi "Peace Plan" is a swindle...

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Saudi Arabian Peace Plan is naive: Don't reward Sharon's fanaticism!

Middle East News Online
By Ray Hanania for Middle East News Online
Posted Wednesday February 27, 2002 - 06:14:17 AM EST
Chicago, USA (MENO) - Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah has offered a plan that many in the Arab World were once willing to accept if Israel would have lived up to its commitments to return lands captured in 1967 in exchange for peace. But what originally began as Israel's drive for recognition and the Israeli backed formula of "land for peace," has turned into an ugly game of deception with Israel always reneging on its promises, demanding full peace in exchange for little land and even little Palestinian rights. Why are Israelis suddenly saying they like the concept of exchanging Palestinian lands for a full peace, when they have had that option before them but they have refused to live up to their responsibilities? Israel has been recognized, has signed peace accords with several Arab governments, and still refuses to return the lands occupied in 1967. In fact, Israel continues to expand settlements in those lands, to evict Palestinian Christians and Muslims, and to absorb Arab East Jerusalem. The Palestinians have offered to allow Israel to keep the Wailing Wall Plaza which was expanded by Israel in 1967 in violation of the Geneva Conventions bulldozing the homes of hundreds of Palestinians and evicting them to a life of refugee status. After forcing these civilians into refugee status, Israel then asserts that the "right of return" is not a right at all. The Palestinians and Arab World have already offered a fair peace to Israel, one that requires that Israel agree to return the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the majority of Arab East Jerusalem, and dismantle the illegal Israel settlements. Israel need not vacate these lands immediately, but just acknowledge publicly in the course of this proposed compromise that it will do what it says it promises. Israel so far has refused! The fact that the Saudis are now offering the same plan seems to have added a sparkle to the eyes of some in Israel and their American government advocates. The Israelis now want to invite Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to visit the very Jerusalem city that Israel occupies in violation of international rights and justice, a clever slap in his face. The fanatic Sharon government wants the Saudi Prince to publicly acknowledge by visiting Jerusalem that the city belongs to Israel. Once he does that, the Israelis will do what they always do, ignore the offer. After all, the Israelis already got what they wanted, didn't they? The glimmer is one of deception. Israel will use the offer as a means of reinforcing its control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and even force the Arabs to accept their illegal control and occupation of Arab East Jerusalem. The Arabs World has even already accepted Israel's illegal claim to West Jerusalem which was captured in 1948, a compromise that Israel has refused to acknowledge. The Saudi Arabian Peace Plan is faulty not because of what it offers, but because of the premise that it is founded on: that Israel will return the occupied lands. So far, Israel has refused to return the occupied lands. Even the so-called "magnanimous" offer by the government of Sharon's predecessor, Ehud Barak, did not include the return of Arab East Jerusalem. Stand up to Sharon's fanaticism Instead of surrendering to the fanaticism of Israel's government and Sharon -- who has been on record for more than 20 years opposing peace -- the Arab World should stand up in defiant rejection of Israel's failed peace moves. Sharon is a true fanatic who, for many Israelis symbolizes, the core nature of the extremist Israeli settler movement and the ideals that drove many victims of the Holocaust to soothe their own suffering by stealing the lands and lives of other human beings. Sharon established himself as an anti-peace warmonger long before he orchestrated his election as Israeli Prime Minister by using violence and provocation's at one of the holiest of Arab and Muslim religious centers. Sharon never hid his opposition to peace with the Palestinians. As Israelis moved toward peace and acceptance of long rejected principles of justice -- such as the right of Palestinians to have a state, and the dismantling of the fanatic Israeli settlements - - Sharon stood firm arguing the opposite as a leader of the Likud Coalition. Sharon and the Likud are proponents of the most extreme and racist policies of Israeli Zionism. These include the eviction of Christian and Muslim Palestinians from lands, the closure of Christian and Muslim Holy sites, and the eventual transfer of Palestinians out of much of the occupied territories to other Arab countries. So why surrender to this kind of fanaticism now? Why reward Sharon's fanaticism with a solution that plays into his unwavering, uncompromising, and extreme hands? Instead of offering Israel a wide-ranging peace that can be exploited, distorted and then altered through disingenuous Israeli Government policies that oppose peace, the Arab World should stand fast and reject Sharon and his government policies. The Arab World should come together and isolate the Sharon Government in much the same way that Sharon has tried to isolate PNA President Yasir Arafat. Rather than rewarding Sharon with a peace he exploit as another mechanism for delay, Saudi Arabia should stand up and show courage to force the Arab World to stand united against Israel's egregious violations of international laws, United Nations resolution, the most fundamental standards of ethical and moral behavior. Courage is something many Arab governments have shown in their just battle against Israel. In the face of one of the most brutal and vicious assaults against civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Arab World has remained mostly silent in the past 14 months. It is a shameful act that demonstrates weakness and a lack of leadership. To stand up now and offer Israel what we have already offered and Israel has rejected, only shows how shallow and impotent Arab World policies have been. Israel has not only stolen and raped Arab lands, it has exposed the Arab governments for the "impotentates" that they really are. (Ray Hanania is executive director of the National Arab Journalists Association. His columns are archived on the web at http://www.ArabAmericanView.net) © 2001 Middle East News Online. This news item is distributed via Middle East News Online (MiddleEastWire.com). For information about the content or for permission to redistribute, publish or use for broadcast, contact our syndication department.
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