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JOHN B HODGES As US Secretary of State Colin Powell ends his North African, European and Middle East Regional Tour, we should all be asking ourselves, what was the purpose of his mission? According to the Bush Administration and Colin Powell himself, his mission was to, "Broker a Ceasefire" and return both sides to the "Negotiating table." If I were to be sent on this mission my first and most important task would be to go and see for myself exactly what had happened inside the Palestinian Cities and Refugee Camps and also to visit the places where the recent suicide bombs had been used in the Israeli Cities. This would all have been done on day one. What did Powell do? He went to Morocco, Egypt, Spain and finally Israel. The reason given for the delayed arrival: he wanted to get a consensus of opinions. I am almost certain that the US already knew the views of these countries and didn't need to waste so much time. So why the delay, I suspect the truth is to give the Israelis more time to finish their military action prior to an important American arriving on the scene. This was supposed to be an emergency peace mission, so where was the urgency………….? The next obvious thing to do would be to start meeting with the Palestinian and Israeli leaders without setting any preconditions to either side. What did Powell do? He meet with the Israeli Prime Minister Sharon, whilst the Israeli Army was still continuing with it's operation, but told Palestinian Leader Arafat to condemn the suicide bombing of an Israeli bus or there would be no meeting with him. The reason given for canceling the meeting with Arafat and imposing a precondition for a new meeting, "Arafat must condemn these terrorist attacks on civilians." So why didn't Powell demand that Sharon make a similar statement, i.e. to condemn Israeli military attacks on civilians. The reason given is that Israel claims it doesn't and didn't target any civilians, they are all terrorists or Palestinian Gunmen. So if we are to believe the Israeli position, i.e. "We don't target civilians and those that died are terrorists," who are all those dead men, women and children we keep seeing on TV in the Jenin Refugee Camp. Don't try and tell me the whole Jenin population are terrorists, it is just not true. The truth is a lot of innocent people have died on both sides, so again why isn't Colin Powell insisting that Sharon and Arafat make a statement to condemn the killing of innocents before he has meetings with either of them? Why the insistence that just Arafat make a statement, is it acceptable for Sharon not to make a similar one? Now
we can move onto the content and agenda of the meetings. I don't make any claims to be an expert on these issues but from my point of view it is all rather simple if you just look at the obvious issues first. The
whole world has been telling Israel to stop the building of anymore
settlements in Palestinian areas. Why do they need settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip? These are Palestinian areas. Don't
they realize that this is the main reason why the Palestinians are
fighting with them. Once the Israelis have pulled out of the Palestinian land and left the settlement areas the Palestinians can create their own state with recognized secure borders and allow the refugees to return to their land (now their country). What's wrong with that? Why wont the Israelis do it, because they want the land for themselves? They have to allow the Palestinians to form their own country, what rights do they have not to allow them? Do
the British have a right to stay in Northern Ireland? No. Security for both sides can only be achieved once the reasons for war have been eliminated. Stop the violence, have respect for each other and start talking. Peace will only be found when the rest of the world especially the USA starts to treat both sides as equals. That means supporting both equally with investments, rebuilding, military support and in all other aspects of life. Equality means equal, not more support for one side because of other political or regional interests. Equal respect and equal treatment for both sides is the only way to start the ceasefire and stop the killings. So set up a Palestinian State on the Palestinian land, have both Israel and Palestine recognized by all UN countries, secure both countries borders and work together towards living together in peace. Where there is a will there is a way to peace and security for all as equals. Was Colin Powell's mission of a ceasefire and a return to the negotiating table accomplished ? If you look at what's happening today as he prepares to leave, I don't think much has been accomplished. Israel is still making fresh incursions into Palestinian towns, nobody is allowed to go into the Jenin refugee camp and no reason is given as to why not. The Palestinians are saying no peace until Israel completely withdraws. Israel is saying no withdrawal of Bethlehem or Ramallah until the Palestinians surrender to them. If America wanted to it could do more, Colin Powel could stay in the region until a peace agreement is made; there is no reason for him to go back to the US at this time. The UN could send a peace delegation to the area to work with Powel. A lot of people could do a lot more to help, it makes you wonder about the real interests of the USA and other countries around the world. The "Mission" was not accomplished Mr. Bush, you must try harder and be more even handed. Send
Powell back to complete his mission if you are brave enough to seek
a real peace. |
