Posted on 18-4-2002

Disempowelled
by Alan Marston (Photo shows Ariel Sharon)

US Secretary of State Colin L. Powell stopped off in Egypt on his way back
to the USA from Israel with clarification of one thing, the Bush
administration, in allying itself with the sociopathic Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon is winning the body-count war while losing the PR
war. And its the battle for hearts and minds that counts. Eygptian
President Hosni Mubaraka snubbed Powell on his stopover and sent his
Foreign Minister to meet him, a transparent message, you're losing it.

The secretary said he would meet here with Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed
Maher, because President Hosni Mubarak was indisposed. He rejected
assertions by Arab analysts that Mr. Mubarak's inability to meet him
represented a snub. Face saving which all but the die-hards can see
through. Before leaving Jerusalem, after meeting one last time with Yasir
Arafat, Powell said at a news conference, "We could have a cease-fire
declared today, but what would it mean?" As long as Israel continues its
occupation of Palestinian areas despite Palestinian protests, he added,
"cease-fire is not a relevant term at the moment." Double speak in an
attempt to cover-up the fact that the USA supports Sharon's policy of
war-without-end. (Who can forget that this whole 18 month round of violence
was started by Sharon's deliberate provocation in challenging Paliestinians
on one of their mosque sites) After Powell spoke, Israeli tanks and troops
moved into two West Bank villages and Israel Radio reported that about 30
tanks pulled out of the Jenin refugee camp, scene of the fiercest fighting
of the West Bank campaign, wherein reports are coming from human rights
groups that Jenin is the scene of war-crimes against civilians.

More big talk after a knock down came from President Bush, who insisted
that he "returns home having made progress toward peace." In a speech to
the Virginia Military Institute, Mr. Bush said, "I want you to know I will
continue to lead toward a vision of peace." He said that the Palestinians
must act on their words of condemnation against terror and that Israel must
continue its withdrawals. "All parties must realize that the only vision
for a long-term solution is for two states, Israel and Palestine, to live
side by side in security and in peace." Hollow words indeed if they didn't
come from a person backed by the biggest military force the world has ever
seen.

Palestinians bitterly denounced the end of the secretary's mission, with
one lead negotiator, Saeb Erekat, saying: "The situation on the ground is
that Secretary Powell leaves the situation much worse than he came."
Standing inside the darkened foyer of his headquarters in Ramallah after
meeting with Secretary Powell, Mr. Arafat said: "I have to ask the whole
international world, I have to ask his excellency President Bush, I have to
ask the United Nations, is this acceptable that I cannot go outside from
this door? Do you think this will not reflect in the whole stability and
peace in the Middle East?" Powell said about Arafat he had to make "a
strategic choice" on whether to renounce violence once and for all. "He and
the Palestinian Authority can no longer equivocate," Secretary Powell said.
"They must decide, as the rest of the word has decided, that terror must
end." Despite six days of diplomacy in the region, the secretary announced
not a single firm result. He said the Bush administration was exploring the
idea of an international peace conference, but said no details had been
worked out.

Surely the conclusion is inescapable that the US administration supports
the Israeli policy of `cure by killing'. Talk is indeed cheap.