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Welcome to USAGOLD's "Gilded
Opinion" pages.
We invite you to browse our index
of outstanding gold-based commentary.
(Back to Holger Jensen Index)
While we find Mr. Jensen's columns particularly informative with respect to foreign affairs, his opinions do not necessarily represent those of Centennial Precious Metals, USAGOLD, its management and clientele.
INSIDE FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Bush's muddled approach to
Mideast does nothing
by Holger Jensen, International Editor
Never has President Bush seemed more impotent -- or muddled -- than he does as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians moves from mayhem to madness.
While other world leaders demand that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon halt his military offensive in Palestinian cities, Bush demands that Yasser Arafat "stop the violence" -- even while Israeli troops are shooting his policemen.
While other world leaders are telling Sharon to end his siege of Arafat's headquarters, Bush wants the Palestinian leader to halt suicide bombings -- despite the fact that Israeli troops have cut his telephone lines, electricity and water.
"I do not think Arafat is in a situation where he can manage this," said Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson, a view shared by most of his European counterparts.
Arafat, in fact, has repeatedly condemned suicide bombings, but this has not stopped them. The 18-year-old schoolgirl who blew herself up outside a Jerusalem supermarket did not have Arafat's OK; actually, she defied his orders not to harm Israeli civilians.
Such distinctions are lost on Sharon, who blames Arafat for everything: He is the architect of a "terrorist infrastructure," an "enemy of Israel and the free world in general," and a danger to the Middle East. Bush apparently agrees, while his State Department does not.
Asked if the storming of Arafat's office was justified, the president replied: "Israel is a democratically elected government and the government is responding to the will of the people for there to be more security. Israel will make the decisions necessary to defend herself."
At the same time, the United States joined other U.N. Security Council members in a resolution that calls on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian cities, including Ramallah. In casting the U.S. vote, Deputy Ambassador James Cunningham warned Sharon to "carefully consider the consequences" of attacking Arafat's headquarters.
The State Department also is "greatly concerned about civilian casualties" and has asked Israel to "carefully consider the consequences" of its military actions.
The most obvious consequence is that suicide bombings have gone up, not down. Five in five days is a record that suggests the more military pressure Sharon puts on the Palestinians, the more they volunteer for suicide missions, making Israel less secure.
Another consequence is that Bush is totally alone in defending Israel. Everyone else, including our staunchest European ally, Britain, and Israel's only Muslim ally, Turkey, have condemned what Pope John Paul II, in his Easter message, called "the dramatic spiral in the abuse of power."
Two more possible consequences were cited by Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security adviser to President Carter, in an interview with CNN.
"The Bush administration can't ignore the fact that for the last 10 years Mr. Sharon has opposed the Oslo peace process," he said. "He contributed to the political climate in Israel that led to the killing of (then) Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He has been determined to dismantle the Palestinian Authority and he is using every act of terrorism as an excuse to try to destroy the Palestinian Authority.
"That is not the way toward peace. And the absence of any meaningful American strategy and sense of direction is part of this appalling reality we are now watching.
"I worry about the national interest," Brzezinski went on. "I can see two major jeopardies ahead if we don't step into the breach. If the tragedy between Israelis and Palestinians degenerates into total violence, if Arafat is killed, we'll probably see major uncertainty, major instability in the Middle East.
"We'll become more isolated in the war on terrorism because the Arabs will unite against us. And we could even get an oil embargo with the Saudis, the Iraqis and Iranians joining forces despite their disagreements. That's a very, very ominous scenario."
Like his superpower protector, Sharon also seems strangely impotent. Instead of crushing terrorism, his "war without compromise" is creating more terrorists. After publicly regretting that he had not killed Arafat and promising Washington that he would not be harmed, Sharon now wants to "isolate" the Palestinian leader.
But if he succeeds, and the terror continues, who will he have to blame?
April 2, 2002
Send your questions to international editor Holger Jensen, who will answer one each day. E-mail: hjens@aol.com
Copyright © 2002 The E.W. Scripps Co. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted by USAGOLD with permission of Mr. Jensen. No further reproduction without permission.
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