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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (41214)	4/28/2004 1:28:03 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793914

On point as usual: The Region: It sounds familiar By BARRY RUBIN This week the region's biggest story remained the bizarre notion that an Israeli proposal to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and several West Bank settlements was somehow an act of aggression and a big trick injurious to Palestinian interests. Of course, this reaction completely ignores the letters exchanged by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President George W. Bush, which made it clear that any provisions in a final peace treaty must be acceptable to the Palestinian leaders. It also disregards the fact that the move would end "occupation" and suffering for around one million Palestinians. Finally, all the energy put into rejecting this policy does not deal with the great opportunity now offered the Palestinian leadership to show it could make a success of governing Gaza. It's a shame that the world already seems locked into this counterproductive analysis of such a major strategic shift. Incidentally, it is strange to read everywhere in the West that Israel's policies, including the killing of Hamas leaders, have failed. Since figures show that the number of Israeli casualties in 2003 were half those in 2002 and that those so far in 2004 – ptui! ptui! – are half those in 2003, everyone should be discussing the success of Israel's counterterrorism effort. But, unfortunately, we live in an age where political agendas often determine the analysis of events rather than the other way around. And speaking of people rejecting efforts to stop occupying them and make peace, the situation in Cyprus seems familiar. In Cyprus, where the Greek majority has demanded reunification of the island and a withdrawal of the Turkish occupation for years, Greek voters overwhelmingly voted against a plan to achieve these goals. Turkish Cypriots, in contrast, supported the idea. One motive in Cyprus is that the Greeks are doing better financially under the current situation. Despite some marked differences, though, the parallel with Palestinian politics – complain about the status quo and the presence of a foreign power but do nothing to change the situation – is plain. BUT BACK to the Palestinian Authority. An earlier column discussed how it had mishandled the case in which three security men working for the US State Department were murdered in Gaza. Now a militia has raided the jail and freed them. Presumably, they were sprung by a PA decision and no attempt will be made to get them back or find those responsible for attacking an official US convoy. Remember this when analyzing Bush's distaste for the PA and Yasser Arafat. Speaking of Middle East dictators, US efforts to promote democratization have also met with rejection. Many Arab leaders are now giving lip service to these ideas – state-controlled newspapers and apologist intellectuals are full of talk about reform – without intending do anything. A good symbol of this is the decision by Egypt and Saudi Arabia to establish their own semi- official human rights groups (which will probably spend most of their time complaining about Israel and the West). Meanwhile, independent activists who really do advocate democracy and reform are harassed or arrested. Which brings us to Iraq. Certainly, things are bad enough, but at least the Shi'ite uprising seems to have ended, at least for a while. Come to think of it, isn't this another case where radical forces use violence and refusal to compromise in order to continue an occupation they can then use demagogically to recruit supporters? Hmm, that sounds familiar, too. But the moment of truth is fast approaching over the transfer of power from the US-led coalition to the Iraqis. Ironically, Iraqis are not so enthusiastic about the UN, whose staffers and contacts, including possibly the son of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, now appear to have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars out of their mouths through kickbacks from the oil-for-food program. Moreover, the UN's nominee for dealing with Iraq is a former Arab League official who got along very well with former president Saddam Hussein. The best thing would be for as many Iraqis as possible to decide as much as possible about their governance as soon as possible. Finally, regarding Europe, the severe and continuing terrorist threat there may be having some effect on political thinking. The Spanish model shows appeasement in the ascendancy, arising from a prevalent European view that if it leaves terrorists alone they will leave it alone. In Britain and Italy, however, support for government policies seem to be increasing as people conclude that the terrorists really are out to get them. In short, another typical week for the Middle East where – to paraphrase, in reverse, what American radio wit Garrison Keeler says about his small Minnesota town – all the regimes are ugly, all the democrats are weak, and all the indices are below average. jpost.com