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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 August 2000 Issue No. 494 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 August 2000 Issue No. 494
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Out of Eden
By Medhat El-Zahed*
The American administration is upset, apparently because President Mubarak has refused to pressure Arafat into accepting what Israel and the US had planned as the outcome of the Camp David summit -- ie, a micro state in the middle of Jewish settlements, with no sovereignty over Jerusalem and no rights for Palestinian refugees.
Washington, once described as an honest and even-handed partner in the Middle East peace process, has praised Barak's "flexibility" for having agreed to allow Arafat to raise the Palestinian flag over a handful of spots in Jerusalem. Inside Israel's united Jerusalem the Palestinian flag flutters -- and what, Washington asks, could be more open-minded and diplomatic than this?
Instead of being head of some obscure department of Palestinian self-rule, Arafat has all the trappings of a president, and the Palestinians the paraphernalia of a state. They have a flag, and an anthem. What more, Washington seems to be asking, could they possibly want in return for embracing peace?
Unfortunately Arafat appears not to have appreciated the flexibility he was shown when he was expected to permanently acknowledge the right of Israel to occupy Palestine's historical borders, not the four fifths that were occupied in 1948, but the rest that was annexed in 1967.
And because Washington is upset, it has issued a warning to Arab states to the effect that should they fail to help achieve US-Israeli plans then they too will be expelled from the American paradise. Which is probably no bad thing, given how hellish this particular Eden is turning out to be.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is a journalist with Al-Ahali newspaper.
