DAMASCUS, Syria, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Every time we in the Middle East listen to the statements of U.S. President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney and their "initiatives to make peace in the Middle East," we feel the desire to laugh and cry at the same time.
We want to laugh because the top echelons of the only superpower in the world do not have any real knowledge of the issues they are addressing, and a desire to cry because their decisions are having the most catastrophic consequences on millions of innocent and helpless people in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Somalia and Sudan, not to mention Afghanistan, of course.
They seem to be exactly like Amir Peretz, Israel's defense minister, who was supposedly following military maneuvers on the Golan without removing the protective caps on his binoculars, yet he was shaking his head as if he was seeing something while all he could see was darkness. The sight of Peretz was truly telling not only of the arrogant and ignorant Israeli stand, but also of the American attitude that is blindly following the Israeli dark vision and causing unnecessary and illegitimate horrid wars against the Arab people.
Condoleezza Rice's last visit to the region was a total failure. She, who is coming to make peace, found the Mecca agreement that stopped Palestinian fighting, a troubling element because what she pursues with the Palestinians is not peace but complete surrender to Israeli Prime Minister's Ehud Olmert's conditions. She then substituted her diplomatic endeavors by an unprecedented intelligence activity when she met in Amman with intelligence directors from four Arab countries, leaving everyone in the region flabbergasted.
Rice briefed the accompanying journalists by saying: "I don't want others to stand on the side of the road and say the U.S. has to complete the road map. These countries have obligations too, and what I am going to say to the Arabs is that you have to play a role in order to complete the road map."
And the question is: Which road and which map, and who are the Arabs who should play a role in this? Does Rice mean the map of the two states as they were identified in U.N. Security Resolution 181, or does she means the road to the "apartheid wall" that grabs more Palestinian land by the day? Or does she mean the road that has brought the Palestinian people to a state of starvation due to the international blockade against them which Rice promotes?
The question is: Did Rice read the report of the United Nations Human Rights Council about the Palestinians published on Jan. 29, which states the Palestinian people are subjected to collective punishment in stark violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention of Aug. 12, 1949, and that the Israelis use of force against unarmed civilians and their daily killings of Palestinian children are war crimes?
The report says that since 2000 the Israelis killed 500 Palestinians in targeted killings, most of them civilians. The report goes on to compare Israeli policies towards Palestinians to those of the apartheid policies which were enforced against black South Africans. Yet what Rice wants from the Arabs is to pressure the Palestinians to acknowledge the right of Israel and the security of Israel. But what about the rights of Palestinians to live on their own land and their rights to live safely?
The real obstacle on the road to peace and security in Palestine is the Israeli occupation of Arab territories and the real obstacle on the road to peace and security in Iraq is the American occupation of Iraq. And what is most desperately needed in both cases is for Rice to take off the lids of her binoculars rather than gaze into darkness. pretending that she sees something and knows what she is doing.
The result of American policy in our region has resulted in the displacement of 4 million Palestinians and 9 million Iraqis.
Isn't that enough for the U.S. administration to realize that they are looking from, and acting in complete darkness?
--
(Bouthaina Shaaban is Syrian Minister of Expatriates)
--
(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)
