Commentary

Colin Powell Leaves Middle East Empty-Handed

Despite repeated assurances from U.S. President George Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell that progress had been made towards peace in the Middle East, the facts tell a different story. When Powell arrived in Jerusalem, Israeli tanks and missiles were destroying Palestinian towns and refugee camps, Yasser Arafat was under siege in his Ramallah offices and Israeli troops surrounded the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was refusing to end his military offensive until the Palestinians surrendered and Arafat was refusing to agree to a cease-fire until Israeli troops withdrew completely from Palestinian territory. Now that Powell has left, the situation remains exactly the same, except that some of the Israeli forces have been "withdrawn" from already-destroyed towns to positions around their perimeters. The siege of Arafat's offices continues, as does the siege in Bethlehem and Israeli troops continue to impose 21-hour curfews in many locations. Meanwhile, Sharon is adamant that he will not end his military offensive until it has achieved all of its objectives, while promising even greater destruction in response to any future acts of violence by Palestinians.

The only apparent results of Powell's mission to the Middle East are the further eroding of the authority of the Bush administration and the further isolation of the Israeli Zionist regime. The European Union has renewed its demand for an international peace-keeping force, a demand echoed by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan The Palestinians, who have been calling for such an international force for years, welcomed the demand, but Sharon rejected it out of hand. Instead, he has called for an international conference. What Sharon could possibly hope to achieve by such a conference, apart from buying himself more time to crush the Palestinians, is unclear, since every country in the world, including the U.S., is demanding an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territories.

It remains to be seen whether the Bush administration is genuinely interested in achieving a cease-fire or whether it is merely posturing for the sake of its Arab allies. In either case, it has failed miserably in asserting its agenda. On the other hand, there can no longer be any doubt that the Sharon regime is not the least interested in a cease-fire or any eventual peace accord. Its agenda is clear - the annexation of all the occupied territories and the removal of all Palestinians from those lands. Sharon hopes to accomplish this using the same methods used by the Nazis - collective punishment, concentration camps and genocide. However, the spirit demonstrated by the Palestinian people, who defended their homes with their lives, hopelessly outgunned and cut off from their leaders, proves that he will never achieve his goal of a Greater Israel. Ultimately, his policies, just as those of the Nazis, will lead to disaster for his own society.