! Mideast Road Map To Where? Speed Bumps And Dead Ends Galore

Road Map to Where?

Hussein Shobokshi

In the latest weekly telephone intercepts between Paul Wolfowitz, the American deputy secretary of defense, and Ariel Sharon, the war criminal heading the Israeli government, Sharon sounds outraged. “Come on, Paul, send us the money. You know I won’t accept this road map business. I’m still building new settlements, I need to house new immigrants from Russia.”

“OK, OK, just play along,” said Wolfowitz.

Meanwhile, in another development, the US secretary of state visited Syria and Lebanon and promised a stern message for their governments. He wants “to make them aware of the new situation in the region after Saddam’s fall” and “to stop them from supporting terrorists like Hezbollah and the Palestinian groups.” What an interesting thought Mr. Powell brings to the area.

It is particularly interesting since the echoes of his fiery speech to the American-Israeli Political Action Committee (AIPAC) are still in the air, echoes of a speech to the effect that America’s commitment to the protection of Israel knows no limits.

Powell later let the money do the talking, offering military aid worth $1 billion and an additional $9 billion of loan guarantees not forgetting the $4 billion annual gift that is given to Israel (all this while the local state and federal economies in the US are facing their worst fiscal crisis in years).

Mr. Powell has conducted his tour de force with a set of demands to the Syrians and Lebanese but totally “forgot” to mention the Israelis! Oops... They “only” occupy the land of the three Arab nations; they kill tens of innocent civilians on a daily basis without mercy or respect for laws, resolutions or human dignity.

Israel remains a threat and a serious obstacle to peace, and if that issue is not confronted head-on Mr. Powell is wasting his and our time.

America is trying to be an “honest” broker in the upcoming peace process, the road map.

The policies of America are conducted by men like Wolfowitz, who have allied themselves with a regime in Israel led by war criminals and terrorists. Would it be too much to ask America to demand regime change in Israel? Or to insist on immediate Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories rather than this flimsy request for a “settlement freeze?” Without these obvious and legitimate requests the proposed road map will be nothing but a dead end.

Arab News Features 6 May 2003