25 - 31 October 2001
Issue No.557
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 25 - 31 October 2001 Issue No.557 |
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The very model of a rogue state
US support for Israel has led to a logical and political impasse, writes Ibrahim Nafie
It seems the Middle East is condemned to contend with the most glaring violation of all human rights conventions and principles of international law. The US veto is forever at hand to forestall the implementation of UN resolutions on the Middle East conflict and to prevent the passing of new resolutions that would force Israel to halt settlement construction, refrain from the use of force against the Palestinians and accept an international monitoring team.
Not only does Washington continue to abet Israel's attacks on Palestinian rights and lives, it also exempts it from the category of terrorism. It is always ready to indulge the Israeli spin that calls its brutal repression of the Palestinians "self-defence" and its official policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders "targeted killing." Clearly, Washington has developed a singular definition of terrorism, one tailored to its own interests and those of Israel. Hence the schizophrenia we see today in its massive assault on Afghanistan, described as a "comprehensive" war on terrorism, and its unwavering support for the terrorism perpetrated by the Sharon government.
In an attempt to placate Arab and Islamic opinion, Washington has argued that the present campaign must focus on the Taliban and Al-Qa'ida, after which attention will turn to the plight of the Palestinians. But the hints that it will target other Arab and Islamic countries have only incensed public opinion further. People already suspect that the US's declared motives are not those behind a war on an impoverished, strife-ridden people. It is common knowledge that the US's new enemy is the same terrorist group it fostered and supported during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan; nor has it escaped anyone that the US still condones Israel's occupation of Palestine territory and the government's crimes against the Palestinian people.
In his interview with members of the General Secretariat of the Federation of Arab Journalists, President Mubarak predicted that a broadening of the US military campaign will drive public opinion not only in the Arab world, but in the entire world, to oppose Washington.
Mubarak put his finger on the pulse of ordinary Arabs. They feel that a truly impartial anti-terrorist drive should begin with Israel, which, with its daily bombardment and deliberate starvation of Palestinian civilians, is the foremost perpetrator of terrorism in the world. Washington, however, has yet to issue so much as a condemnation of Israeli brutality and the UN has yet to take action against the violations committed by Israeli occupation forces.
As the US bombardment of Afghanistan intensifies, Israeli forces have moved into PA controlled cities in Area A, snubbing US "appeals" to withdraw, in an obvious bid to create a situation that will annul the Oslo accords. If this plan succeeds, it will make it impossible to speak of peace and preclude the US's pledges to resolve the crisis in Palestine once it has accomplished its goals in Afghanistan. Alert to this danger, President Mubarak has cautioned the Bush administration, which recently announced its support for the creation of a Palestinian state, "to translate this new stance into practical steps that will ensure the restoration of peace in the Middle East."
US action against Afghanistan and its inaction toward Israel has put the governments Washington describes as moderate in a very delicate position. Public opinion is now protesting US double standards and the racist stereotyping of Arab and Muslim peoples. This is precisely the situation Arab and Muslim leaders warned against when they urged Washington and its partners in the coalition against terrorism to make a clear distinction between terrorism and Islam. If this distinction is not made apparent, they cautioned, the coalition will fracture. The Arab countries will be unable to rally popular support, for they cannot argue credibly that it is not targeting innocent Arab and Muslim civilians. Above all, concrete steps must be taken to curb the Sharon government's mass murder of the Palestinian people if Arabs and Muslims are to believe that no special agenda is at work.
Egypt was among the first nations in the world to condemn the suicide attacks on New York and Washington and declare its support for the US's campaign to bring the perpetrators to justice. This position emanates from the belief that terrorism is an outrage, regardless of the ethnic, religious or ideological affiliations of those who commit it. Simultaneously, Egypt, like most of the international community, draws a sharp line between terrorism and the universally recognised right to resist foreign occupation. Egypt has long called for an international conference that will allow the world to define terrorism clearly. The situation has shown the need for such a conference in the wake of operations in Afghanistan.
Once the US had obtained support for a global anti-terrorist battle, it abridged this war to its current operations in Afghanistan, forsaking the principle of universality to appease the government of the war criminal Sharon. It is not surprising that US policy should come under heavy criticism from Arab and Muslim quarters, or that tensions should be surfacing. The US has endorsed Israel's terrorist agenda in the Middle East while mobilising international support for attacks on terrorist bases in another part of the world.
Washington could have done much to avert growing anti-American hostility had it resolved to focus solely on its own agenda, which is to root out terrorist cells in Afghanistan and elsewhere. It remains determined to cater to Israeli priorities, however, thereby rendering itself vulnerable to inordinate problems that will only grow more acute with time.
The Sharon government's determination to defy international law and universal principles of human rights, its efforts to impose its warped conception of security, make it the model of a "rogue" state. The US's continued support for it flies in the face of the values America espouses -- values it cited in mobilising support for the fight against terrorism. This is a predicament that Washington will have to resolve in the near future.
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