Bush
Blocks Peace in Middle East
This
is an article from the Guardian with commentary
from NYC leftist Joe Smith. I thought it was
quite smart, so I'm posting it here.
For
people interested in joining the Globalization
Yahoo group this was posted on, email–
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To:
Globalization <Globolist@yahoogroups.com>
From:
Joe Smith <joseph.a.smith@verizon.net>
Yesterday
I noted that Blair's call for final settlement
talks between Israelis and Palestinians with
the aim of fulfilling unenforced UN resolutions
regarding the illegal occupation was denounced
as "immoral" by a columnist writing
in the Jerusalem Post. I also noted that Tony's
plea had been met with silence from Washington.
Well, it appears that silence is now over.
There is to be no equal treatment of parties
in the Middle East. Iraq's crimes against
humanity are intolerable while Israel's are
to met with coddling, funding and unconditional
political backing. The only possible thing
one can think of to say as a qualifier to
such obvious hypocrisy is that Hussein also
enjoyed US coddling, funding and unconditional
political backing when he was gassing Iranians
& Kurds. Such equal treatment before the
law when allies commit crimes against humanity
says much about American principles. —Joe
Smith
Bush veto on Middle East talks
Humiliating
rebuff for Blair initiative
Ewen
MacAskill, diplomatic editor
Saturday
October 5, 2002
The
Guardian
Tony Blair's drive for Middle East peace talks
has suffered an embarrassing setback at the
hands of the US president, George Bush, only
days after the prime minister flagged up his
plan at the Labour party conference in Blackpool.
Mr
Blair is pushing for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian
talks, backed by an international conference,
before the end the year. He has told colleagues
that, with war looming in Iraq, he regards
it as essential to deal with one of the main
causes of Arab resentment against the west.
But
the Guardian has learnt that Mr Bush has blocked
the initiative and has made it clear to Mr
Blair that he does not want such talks to
be held in the near future.
Over
the last fortnight Mr Blair has made two public
calls for a revival of negotiations aimed
at securing a final Israeli-Palestinian peace
agreement. He told the Commons, recalled last
week to debate Iraq, that "we need a
new conference on the Middle East peace"
and "a massive mobilisation of energy
to get the peace process moving again".
On
Tuesday he told the party conference that
"by the year's end, we must have revived
final status negotiations and they must have
explicitly as their aims an Israeli state
free of terror, recognised by the Arab world,
and a viable Palestinian state based on the
boundaries of 1967".
Mr
Blair has staked a great deal of political
capital on his relationship with Mr Bush.
But Downing Street and the Foreign Office
are exasperated by the American leader's attitude.
According to officials, in spite of the setback,
Mr Blair is to continue to pursue the idea
of peace talks over the next few months.
Mr
Bush's rebuff highlights a fundamental division
between the US and Britain over the Middle
East: the US sees dealing with Iraq as the
priority whereas Britain sees the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict as the priority, either to be tackled
first or, at least, alongside Iraq.
A
Whitehall official, describing the US and
Israeli attitude towards a resumption of talks
as "cool", said: "The lack
of progress is poisoning everything in the
region."
There
has been an increase in transatlantic traffic
in recent weeks. Downing Street refused to
disclose last night when Mr Blair last spoke
to Mr Bush, saying only that there were on-going
contacts at all levels.
The
prospect of a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian
final settlement talks was raised by the Quartet
group - made up of the United Nations, the
US, the European Union and Russia - but no
date has yet been set for the next meeting
of the group.
The
US representative on the group is the secretary
of state, Colin Powell, who shares Mr Blair's
views on an urgent need for a peace conference.
The
outstanding issues for the final settlement
talks are: the future of Jerusalem, which
both Israel and the Palestinians claim as
their capital; the fate of more than three
million Palestinian refugees who demand a
right to return to Israel; and the territorial
boundary between Israel and a new Palestinian
state.
The
Foreign Office is keen that an international
conference be held in tandem to provide a
fillip to the Israeli-Palestinian talks. London
has been suggested as a venue for the international
conference and Mr Blair as the chairman.
The
Israeli government reacted critically this
week to the the prime minister's call for
a revival of the peace conference and for
all countries in the Middle East - Israel
as well as Iraq - to honour United Nations
resolutions.
Violence
continued yesterday, with Israeli police charging
into one of the holiest sites in Jerusalem
- known as Temple Mount to Jews and Haram
as-Sharif to Muslims - after Palestinians
dropped stones on Jews praying at the Western
Wall. Israeli soldiers shot dead a 16-year-old
Palestinian boy near Jenin in the West Bank
and left a 12-year-old boy critically injured.
