Commentary

The Butcher of Beirut Goes to Washington

Ariel Sharon heads to Washington this week to meet with President George Bush and other senior U.S. politicians. Ostensibly, Bush will use the opportunity to increase pressure on Sharon for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the remaining cities Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) are occupying in the West Bank and Gaza. Bush and Sharon are also slated to discuss the plans for a U.S. sponsored Middle East peace summit this summer.

Sharon visits Washington secure in the knowledge that whatever the United States has to say publicly to appease its Arab allies, Israel has been allowed to run rampant in its campaign of terror against the Palestinians. Under one spurious pretext after another, Israel is also denying the United Nations the chance to investigate allegations that the IDF forces massacred civilians and committed war crimes during their invasion of Jenin last month.

The week prior to Sharon's visit, both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate passed resolutions expressing full support for Israeli actions. The House bill, sponsored by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, calls on the U.S. to provide additional aid to Israel and "condemns the ongoing support of terror" by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. It passed the House by a vote of 352-21, while the Senate passed a slightly milder bill by 94-2.

Advisors to Sharon have been quoted in the Israeli media as saying that while in the U.S., he will propose that the terms for peace in the region be determined at the peace summit. U.S. officials have hinted this will be held in June in Turkey.

If this is the case, it would give Sharon another month to continue his sweep through the West Bank destroying Palestinian infrastructure and individual homes and businesses. He seems to be gambling once again on the fact that if he has just a little more time, he can finish off what he has started. It would seem he has learned nothing since he ordered the massacre of Palestinian refugees in the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps 20 years ago. Then, as today, his attempts to break the Palestinian spirit through fear have failed. Indeed, far from making the Palestinians weaken or go away, the invasions, occupations, extrajudicial killings, torture, withholding of food and medicine and constant humiliations the IDF has unleashed since the end of March have created an unprecedented level of unity amongst the Palestinians.

Sharon has demanded, and the U.S. has accepted, that the peace meeting this June be of foreign ministers, which means President Arafat would be excluded. If he thinks this will weaken the Palestinian position, he clearly doesn't understand. It remains to be seen what will be put on the table at this meeting, but it is clear that amongst the Palestinians there is no longer an appetite for watered-down promises and vague time lines.