Al-Ahram Weekly Online 24 - 30 May 2001 Issue No.535
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue | Previous issue | Site map

Colonial ambitions

The US decision to assign a senior State Department official, Ambassador William Burns, to help end the violence in occupied Palestinian territories is a positive sign. It came in response to fears at home and abroad that the US's hands-off policy in the Middle East can only intensify the conflict. With Ariel Sharon in office, supported by several extremist ministers, direct US intervention is necessary, if only to remind the hard-line premier that there are limits to both his military ambitions and his brutality.

Sharon not only ordered the use of F-16 fighters against civilian targets in densely populated Palestinian areas, he has also been directing irresponsible warnings against Lebanon and Syria. After announcing that he welcomed the report issued by the fact-finding commission headed by former US Senator George Mitchell, Sharon said he would disregard one of its main points: the call for an immediate halt to Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian areas.

The Mitchell report tried to attribute equal responsibility to Israelis and Palestinians, but could not fully skate over the reality that the latter are a defenceless people living under an occupation enforced by one of the world's most powerful armies. It also touched on the core of the conflict: land. The report rejected the Israeli euphemism used to portray the colonies' expansion as "natural growth." Since 1967, intensified construction has been one of Israel's national priorities. By creating new facts on the ground, it ensures that the Palestinians always receive less territory than stipulated in agreements -- and certainly too little to create a state.

Sharon wants to end the Al-Aqsa Intifada, but continue colonial expansion. This will ensure continued violence -- and possibly the collapse of his government.

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