Al-Ahram Weekly | Editorial

		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 31 Jan. - 6 Feb. 2002 Issue No.571
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Out of mind
Washington's statements blaming Yasser Arafat for the violence in the occupied territories, and expressing "disappointment" in his attitude toward fighting "terrorism" are the last thing this region needed.
Arafat has been besieged in his office in Ramallah for over two months to the deafening sound of silence from the Arabs and the world. US-made Israeli jets have been smashing Palestinian Authority buildings in the West Bank and Gaza, secret Israeli army units have been massacring Palestinian activists, and the Israeli occupation army has been maintaining a siege on three million Palestinians for over 16 months. Yet George Bush and his associates do not perceive Israel's monstrous policies as disturbing in the least. They cannot imagine why the Palestinians refuse to lie down and die. Why, then, should the Bush administration criticise suspected war criminal Ariel Sharon?
The US's pathological bias toward Israel has aroused disgust not only among the Arabs -- including two of its closest allies, Egypt and Saudi Arabia -- but even among European foreign ministers who met in Brussels on Monday.
The European ministers urged the Israeli government in their final statement to "recognise the Palestinian Authority and its president, Yasser Arafat, as a legitimate negotiating partner" in the quest for peace in the region. The statement clearly noted that "Israel needs the Palestinian Authority... as a partner to negotiate with, both in order to eradicate terrorism and work towards peace."
The European ministers also warned that "the Israeli government must withdraw its military forces [from the Palestinian territories] and stop extra-judicial executions, lift the closures and all the restrictions imposed on the Palestinian people, and freeze the settlements."
If the US refuses to heed advice, no matter how sincere, from its allies in the Arab world, perhaps the European ministers' words will sound the alarm in Washington. As the Swedish foreign minister clearly stated, maintaining current policy is simply a recipe for all-out war in the Middle East.

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