Caesar's Favor
Uri Avnery
19.7.03
George Caesar, the Imperator of the new Rome,
likes Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). He has invited him
to the White House and showers him with compliments.
As in ancient Rome, the likes and dislikes of the Emperor
shape the policy of the Empire. All the ministers,
eunuchs, officials, proconsuls and local rulers act
accordingly, while mouthing words of flattery and
praising the wisdom of Caesar, irrespective of whether
he is really wise, like Julius Caesar, stupid like Tiberius
or downright mad, like Caligula. Caesar is Caesar.
George Bush is a simple man. His mental world,
like a Western, contains Good Guys and Bad Guys.
His impressions are personal and come "from the gut".
They have nothing to do with logic or political analysis.
Arafat made Bush angry, he is a Bad Guy.
Abu Mazen is a Good Guy, mainly because
he is not Arafat.
Like King Herod, who lived in Jerusalem but whose ears
picked up the slightest murmur in Rome, Ariel Sharon
listens to every whisper in Washington. In order to
influence Bush, he always has to know exactly which way
the wind is blowing. If Bush likes Abu Mazen, so Sharon,
too, likes Abu Mazen.
More than that, he lays out a blue-and-white carpet for
him to walk on. He invites him to his Jerusalem office,
exchanges smiles and handshakes over the emblem of
the State of Israel, publicly orders his people to
strengthen Abu Mazen in every possible way, watching
over him like a good father over a promising son.
But with friends like this, one has no need of enemies.
I would advise Abu Mazen not to turn his back when
Sharon is around. Definitely not.
Because Sharon's hidden agenda is far removed from
his public one. As we have said many times before:
don't listen to what Sharon says but pay attention to what
he does.
From the day Abu Mazen was appointed Palestinian
Prime Minister, Sharon's sole aim has been to topple him
from his rickety chair as quickly and as forcefully as
possible.
It started with statements from Sharon and his henchmen
that made Abu Mazen look like an Israeli stooge,
a sub-contractor for Israeli security. It is continuing by
denying him any political achievement at all, making him
look like a "featherless chicken", as Sharon has called
him.
Sharon's many statements about releasing prisoners as a
gesture of generosity have been loaded with so many
"no"s as to become meaningless. No prisoners with
"blood on their hands". No Hamas and Jihad members.
No, no, no, until only 300 remained, including common
criminals and prisoners about to be released anyhow.
At the same time, Sharon has fulfilled almost none of his
obligations under the Road Map. The removal of some
60 settlers' "outposts" has become a joke. Only one
single inhabited outpost was removed in a dramatic
struggle before the cameras, and two new ones were put
up in its place. The freezing of all the settlements has
been "forgotten".
The building of the "separation wall", whose main aim is
the drawing of a new border deep in Palestinian territory
and grabbing as much land as possible, is going rapidly
ahead, contrary to Sharon's obligation not to do anything
that may change the situation on the ground. He is
about to spend almost two billion (billion, not million)
dollars on this monstrous enterprise, while the education
and health systems in Israel are collapsing for lack of
funds and single mothers are sitting in protest tents next
to his office.
The withdrawal from the Palestinian territories is a sham.
The Israeli army has left some areas in the Gaza Strip
which it wanted to leave anyway.
The central road has indeed been opened, but not
completely, and it can be shut down again
at a moment's notice.
The army has also left parts of Bethlehem,
but continues to build walls in other parts of the town.
Withdrawals from all the other Palestinian towns
"are not under consideration for the time being".
All over the West Bank, the checkpoints continue to
make the lives of the population hell. Every night more
people are arrested.
The Chief-of-Staff boasts that the hudna (cease-fire)
constitutes an Israeli victory, thereby inciting Palestinians
to break it.
The commander of the Central Sector accuses the
Palestinian security services of not having cooperated
in securing the release of a kidnapped Israeli cabdriver,
after refusing to give them the least scrap of the
necessary information.
And most importantly, all Sharon's spokesmen announce
day and night that Abu Mazen has failed in his job.
Israel, they say, will not make any gesture towards him
until he begins to disarm Hamas and Jihad - that is to
say, initiates a civil war that will cause Hamas and Jihad
to end the hudna and start a new conflagration.
This would allow Sharon to wriggle out of his obligation
to dismantle settlements.
Abu Mazen is also told that he must replace Arafat,
who is vastly more popular than him. The ongoing
imprisonment of Arafat in his wrecked Ramallah
compound is, of course, weakening Abu Mazen
and strengthening Arafat.
Putting together this pattern of behavior, there is only
one possible conclusion: while praising Abu Mazen,
Sharon is doing everything possible to bury him.
He is not fighting against Arafat alone, he is also -
and primarily - fighting against Abu Mazen.
Unlikely? Strange? Not at all. Like Herod in his time,
Sharon knows the vital importance of keeping in
Caeasar's favor, so as to be able to manipulate him and
take advantage of him. Arafat does not disturb Sharon
in this pursuit. Bush hates him. But Abu Mazen has
turned out to be a dangerous competitor for Bush's favor.
He must be eliminated. And quickly.
But this is a sensitive job. Care must be taken to avoid
suspicion in Washington. Annoying Bush must be
avoided at all costs. Therefore, when Sharon hears
dissatisfied murmurs from the White House, he is quick
to make concessions. Not 300 prisoners will be
released, but 400, including some Hamas and Jihad
members. They want the removal of another "outpost"?
OK, bring on the TV cameras to witness another
dramatic struggle. In any case, one can rely on the
settlement rowdies to come back in the night.
The main thing is to satisfy Caesar and his eunuchs.
Hail Caesar, those who are about to kill Abu Mazen
salute you.
gush-shalom.org
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