Other Arabs undermine Palestinians
By STEPHEN WINN
The Kansas City Star
A loud cry has gone up in the Middle East, commanding the United States to set aside its worries over Saddam Hussein until after it has performed another important task:
Solve the Palestinian problem first.
Oh, is that all?
They make it sound so easy. It's hard, however, to think of a stranger argument. If the United States alone could fix the Palestinian problem, it would have done so long ago.
But we can't. The problem has persisted for decades -- far longer than the troublesome Iraqi regime -- and has frustrated one American president after another.
One of the key reasons for this frustration can be simply stated but is hard for many Americans and Europeans to grasp: Despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, Arab governments across the Middle East have never really supported the Palestinians and their nationalist aspirations.
On the contrary, these regimes have shown time and time again, over a period of decades, that they are hostile to Palestinian interests.
This is well understood among many Israelis and Palestinians; it may be one of the few facts on which they can agree.
People who are further from the situation, however, often tend to accept statements from Arab rulers at face value.
There's no reason to do so.
These autocrats have little or no political legitimacy, and they consider lying to each other, their unhappy populations and the rest of the world as essential to their survival.
The historical record on the betrayal of the Palestinians by other Arabs is clear.
In late 1947, the United Nations voted to partition Palestine between the Jews and Arabs. While disappointed at the size and shape of the territory allotted to them, Jews accepted the division.
Surrounding Arab countries, however, did not. They attacked Israel in 1948, occupying the land allotted to the Palestinians in the process.
Although they lost that war, Arab governments remained in control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Yet for the next two decades, no Palestinian state was set up there. Transjordan simply annexed the West Bank, and soon after became known simply as Jordan.
Israel has assimilated the Jews who fled Arab lands. The Arab countries, on the other hand, did far too little to help many of the Palestinians who fled Israel.
Instead, many Palestinians were herded into refugee camps that were quickly thrown up just outside Israel, where they and their descendants could serve as convenient props for the demonization campaign against the Jewish state.
The Arab states' subsequent refusal to negotiate a permanent peace with Israel kept the region in turmoil and the Palestinians in misery.
Then there is the curious case of Jordan, which has long been a predominantly Palestinian country. Yet it has been ruled for decades by non-Palestinian royalty; Arab rhetoric about Palestinian self-rule apparently doesn't apply there.
In the early 1970s, Jordan's King Hussein put down a Palestinian revolt with such ferocity that some PLO fighters swam across the Jordan River to surrender to Israeli troops.
Palestinian interests were again sacrificed by most of the Arab world when it spurned peace efforts by Egypt, Israel and the United States in the 1970s.
Arab governments also torpedoed former President Bill Clinton's plan to establish a Palestinian state two years ago. It was the best offer that the Palestinians could ever expect to get -- and more than any Arab country had ever offered them.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat explained to Clinton, however, that he would be killed if he took the deal. Other Arab leaders preferred to see more frustration, violence and heartbreak in the West Bank and Gaza. They haven't been disappointed.
So when these same rulers now complain once again that the United States has ignored and neglected the Palestinians, this should be recognized for what it is: self-serving propaganda.
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Stephen Winn is the deputy editorial-page editor. To reach him call (816) 234-4477 or send e-mail to winn@kcstar.com. |
