Issue No.589
Editorial
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6 - 12 June 2002 Issue No.589 Editorial |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Distorted vision
President Hosni Mubarak's second visit to the United States in three months underlines Egyptian commitment to pursuing a just settlement in the region. And Egypt, like all parties involved in the Middle East process, acknowledges there can be no solution without direct US involvement.
Yesterday's attack on an Israeli bus carrying mostly soldiers, which resulted in the deaths of 16 people, and Sharon's immediate response, ordering Israeli troops to take over the West Bank town of Jenin once more, can only complicate Mubarak's task in the US. Nor is it at all clear what Sharon assumes this reoccupation will achieve.
The Israeli incursions that began on 29 March clearly failed in their declared objective of breaking Palestinian resistance: why, then, one might ask, repeat an already failed policy. Indeed, Sharon's reliance on brute force, on ensuring the daily humiliation of Palestinians and the abuse of their basic rights, if it dealt a blow to resistance capability also acted to fuel the resentment and hatred that provides such a fertile breeding ground for suicide attacks. And as long as Israel insists on maintaining its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories such attacks will continue.
Mubarak arrived in the US after intensive consultations with Arab and European partners, and with a clear vision of the conditions necessary for a resumption of peace talks. Foremost among them is a full Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada. It would be helpful, too, if Sharon and his government abandoned their aim of unilaterally disposing of Yasser Arafat in order to replace him with a Palestinian leadership of their own selection, a plan that can never lead to a permanent settlement.
The most essential condition, though, for any peaceful settlement to emerge between Israel and the Palestinians is that Israel stop playing the part of the occupier, and stops dictating conditions. But for that to happen means that the Israelis will have to begin treating Palestinians as equal partners, with equal rights and that seems increasingly far away. Yet until it happens, the violence will not stop.
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