1 - 7 February 2001
Issue No.519
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 1 - 7 February 2001 Issue No.519 |
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Greater of two evils
The Palestinian Authority, and the Arab governments in general, find themselves between a rock and a hard place if asked whether they hope Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak or right-wing Likud leader Ariel Sharon will win next week's elections. Sharon (if only because of his record as a war criminal who watched dispassionately the massacre of thousands of Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila) has no intention of working toward peace. The head of his campaign has stated that Israel is prepared for war with all the Arab countries. Sharon, obviously, is eager to re-occupy Sinai, bomb the High Dam, and build a new settlement in the West Bank and Gaza each day. This is not an election platform: it is a war programme.
On the other hand, Barak, after two years in office, has not fulfilled any of his promises that he would be a man of peace. He has failed to implement a single one of the agreements he signed, he has not withdrawn from an inch of occupied Palestinian territory, and he boasts of the number of Palestinians his army has murdered since the Intifada began four months ago. How can the Arabs dream of reaching an agreement with the man who ordered the bombing of Palestinian villages and towns with tanks, helicopters and gunships?
Palestinians living in Israel, who are entitled to cast their ballot in the prime ministerial elections, face this dilemma. Voting for Sharon is out of the question; nor can they back Barak, who has refused to apologise for the recent killing by the Israeli army of 13 Palestinians who were expressing solidarity with the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Palestinians inside Israel will never vote for a man who murders their children. Therefore, most have decided to boycott the elections, or cast a blank ballot to express their rejection of both candidates.
Whoever wins the elections, Arab demands will remain the same: withdrawal from all territories occupied by Israel in 1967, a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and the right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees terrorised into leaving their homeland by Israel's occupation forces in 1948. Peace will only prevail when the Israeli people find a leader who can recognise these facts and accept that Palestinians are human beings with equal rights.
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