10 - 16 January 2002
Issue No.568
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 10 - 16 January 2002 Issue No.568 |
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The same old tune
The Palestinian Authority has declared its readiness to launch a joint Israeli-Palestinian investigation, under American or European supervision, of the widely publicised case of an arms shipment Israel claimed was heading from Iran to Gaza, and which it seized in the Red Sea.Ariel Sharon, who has made it clear in every possible way that he does not want to resume peace talks, has rejected the offer, and yesterday held a cabinet meeting to discuss a proposal by some of his extremist ministers to declare the PA an "enemy" and to cancel all the peace agreements signed since 1993.
There are many reasons to question the Israeli story, which even Israel's closest allies in Washington find quite literally incredible. Israeli newspapers are now running articles wondering "why the world no longer believes Israel," and why such sympathetic US media outlets as CNN did not give much air time to the story.
More interesting was Israel's timing in breaking the story, which it did the very day US envoy Anthony Zinni was due to meet Yasser Arafat. Over a month ago, shortly before Zinni came to the region to restart peace talks, Sharon ordered Israel's death squads to assassinate the leader of Hamas's military wing, Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, triggering a series of revenge attacks. Sharon's real aim, of course, was to sabotage any US efforts aimed at reaching a permanent peace deal.
The Israeli army's chief of staff, Shaul Mofaz, in a theatrical news conference, was utterly incapable of providing evidence that any link exists between Iran and the PA. The most cursory acquaintance with Middle East politics should make it clear that, if Tehran is interested in establishing relations with any Palestinian party, it is certainly not with Arafat. According to Israel, furthermore, the 50-tonne shipment was supposed to be unloaded along the Egyptian coast, at Al-Arish or in Gaza. Again, if that was the case, the PA must be exceptionally witless, since Egypt's and Israel's inflexible vigilance in protecting that coastline is common knowledge.
Apparently, Israel is running out of creative ways to say it; but if the message is that Sharon does not want peace, the world already knows it.
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