The butcher's block

The plan not only aims to kill any Palestinian hope that East Jerusalem will one day be the capital of an independent state, but also makes the very aspiration for a state something of an illusion. No territory to speak of will be left for the Palestinians; Netanyahu's proposal to extend Jerusalem's boundaries will also divide the few remaining kilometres under their control in the West Bank into two parts, separated by Jewish settlements and bypass roads only settlers may use -- another manifestation of the Israeli model of democracy.

The world can tell Netanyahu that he is wrong or that he is killing the peace process -- it will make little difference. The process is dead already and the "butcher", in the words of Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Jawad Annani, is Netanyahu alone.

Arabs now expect a strong resolution from the UN Security Council threatening sanctions against Israel if it goes ahead with plans to confiscate more Palestinian territory. If the United States is really concerned about maintaining a shred of credibility in the region, it should not even think of watering down the resolution, let alone threatening a veto.

When former Likud Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir refused to take part in the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991, then US President George Bush and Secretary of State James Baker decided to suspend $10 billion in loans to Israel. Shamir sat right down next to the Palestinians, whose very right to exist he had long denied. The European Union's decision in May to block all imports from Israel that originate in the occupied Palestinian territories is a positive step which Arabs hope the United States and the rest of the world community will follow. Only this will prove to Netanyahu that the world is serious about preventing him from pushing the whole region back to the brink of violence and war.