Issue No. 610
Opinion
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31 Oct. - 6 Nov. 2002 Issue No. 610 Opinion |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
To teach a mule
A sultan once ordered Goha to teach a mule to read. Goha, knowing it would be perilous to debate the point, agreed. "But give me 10 years to do it right," he said, and the sultan agreed. Goha's friends were stunned but Goha was unfazed. "In 10 years the sultan will be dead, or the mule, or myself." This old piece of folk wisdom is as instructive about current affairs in this region as it is on the relation between sultans and clever ruffians.
Let's consider America's roadmap. The Americans see a Palestinian state within three years. This would have been convincing if we did not know what happened to the Oslo accords. Nine years ago, those accords contained arrangements for a Palestinian state within five years. The Israelis, though, procrastinated, with impunity, while the Americans aided and abetted them. And a similar fate awaits the new plan.
Not to be outdone, Yasser Arafat is also playing for time. Aware that his critics want to oust him or relegate him to an honorary post, he made a show of reshuffling his cabinet; for the most part, however, he kept it as it was. If challenged again, Arafat would probably bend with the wind and take another step, gingerly, in any direction, but not one large enough to actually change anything. The minimalist choreography is intentional. Arafat hopes that perhaps Sharon will be replaced, perhaps the Palestinian opposition will lose heart, perhaps the Americans will forget the whole thing. In this region, mule tutoring is a required skill.
This week's soapbox speaker is a Cairo-based Palestinian political activist.
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