Once again, hectic diplomatic activity is under way to try to contain the current showdown between the Zionist regime and the Palestinian people.
And like always, the purpose of the multi-lateral efforts is not to deal with the root causes of the enduring strife, but rather to “get it under control,” or, more correctly, prevent it from endangering the vital economic and strategic interests of the US Administration, Israel’s ally and banker, which is also the Palestinian people’s enemy and tormentor.
Indeed, there is absolutely no reason to believe that the present efforts are going to succeed where past efforts failed. The mechanisms, approaches and the intentions on all sides haven’t changed a bit although some of the faces have.
In short, it would be self-deceiving and self-defeating for the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority, and, for that matter, Arabs and Muslims everywhere, to pin any reasonable hope on the present efforts, a mere continuation of the same old concatenation of lies and deception from William Rogers to Madeleine Albright.
What makes the whole issue even more cynical is the fact that all parties concerned, including the Zionist regime, the Palestinians, and the United States, realize the disingenuous nature of the American-lead efforts which are dealing only with the secondary symptoms of the conflict.
Indeed, the United States, the so-called “honest-broker” that has displayed every conceivable mark of dishonesty and impartiality, is, as always, adopting a crisis-management approach toward the present crises.
The Americans are worried about the continuation and exacerbation of the “violence” only to the extent to which it affects or disrupts the flow of oil and the safety of the American-backed regimes in the Middle East.
And there is, of course, another important but less-talked-about American concern in this regard, namely keeping popular Islamic movements in the Arab world at bay by tacitly approving of suppressive and anti-democratic measures against these movements by the police states, the islands of instability!!
And some Arab governments, too, seem to think in no less outrageous terms.
In fact, the frantic calls by some Arab leaders for a speedy and genuine intervention to calm-down the “situation” has very little to do with alleged Arab solidarity with the enduring Palestinian plight.
After all these bloody experiences, the Palestinian people must have learned the lesson. Hence, it is imperative that they continue to reject demands by the Americans (often conveyed in a the form of a “brotherly” advice from some Arab leaders) to terminate the intifada and lend the criminal beast Sharon a victory on a silver plate.
The problem in Palestine has never been getting the PA and the Zionists to the negotiation table. PA and Zionist officials talked and talked and talked, publicly and secretly, for eight successive years, but to no avail, because the Zionist regime, intoxicated and blinded by its powerful American connection, was not willing to come to terms with the very minimal of Palestinian rights, particularly those stipulated in various UN resolutions.
Instead, the Zionists insisted and still insist that any “deal” would have to perpetuate the current inequities imposed on the Palestinians. In other words, the Palestinian people would have to accept, more or less, Israeli domination as a permanent political reality.
In a less euphemistic language, Israel is insisting that we capitulate to Zionist military supremacy. And they have the audacity to call it peace plan!!
It is, therefore, essential that the Palestinian people keep up the intifada in all its forms because without effective resistance on the ground, there would be no motive on the part of the Zionist regime and the United States, as well as the world at large, to pay sufficient attention to us, let alone intervene to do justice on our behalf.
As Palestinians, We have been forced into a position where we feel we have nothing to lose, except, perhaps, the chains with which our hands are shackled.
We must keep the intifada going and listen as little as possible to those Arab leaders who want us to raise the white flags to the criminal Sharon and to the US administration, which protects his crimes against our people.
All the talk about getting the moribund peace process back on tract will remain a futile exercise in barren diplomacy.
Indeed, the experience of the past eight years should serve as an ample proof to that effect.
