Editorial

Bush "Peace Plan" - Recipe for a Bloodbath

After numerous delays, during which time he consulted repeatedly with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, U.S. President George W. Bush delivered his much-anticipated "peace plan" for the Middle East. The Bush proposal turned out to be neither a plan, nor does it have anything to do with peace. Rather, it amounts to a green light for Ariel Sharon to escalate his campaign of ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories.

According to Bush, the entire problem in the Middle East stems from the Palestinian Authority's lack of democracy, accountability and a market economy. If the Palestinians remove Yasser Arafat and those associated with him, draft a constitution agreeable to Israel and the U.S., build institutions of democracy and refrain from terrorist attacks on Israel, then the U.S. will grant them a "provisional state" (whatever that means). The borders of that state would not be the 1967 borders, but would be defined as part of a final peace agreement. In the meantime, until the Palestinians accede to all of the American-Israeli conditions, no demands will be placed on the Israelis to withdraw their military forces from the occupied territories, nor to halt the construction of new Jewish settlements on Palestinian land.

Bush's "vision" for the Middle East coincides remarkedly with that of Ariel Sharon: Arafat must go; the Palestinian Authority must become an agency of Israel, devoted to Israeli security; and Israel will determine if and when the Palestinians are allowed to set up an "independent" state, as well as the borders of such a state. If not for the fact that this "vision" is being presented by the leader of the most powerful imperialist state on earth, it would not warrant serious attention and would be dismissed as the rantings of a madman. Instead, we witness the ludicrous spectacle of government spokespersons everywhere attempting to find something positive in it.

There is absolutely no way that the Palestinians can accept such a proposal. It would be tantamount to declaring that their half century of struggle has been for naught and they will now accept whatever Israel is prepared to offer them. They have two possible responses to this provocation: re-elect Arafat and his associates in defiance of Bush's ultimatum or elect a new government which outrightly rejects the peace process. Either response is guaranteed to lead to increased Israeli aggression and escalating suicide attacks by various Palestinian organizations.

But this is precisely what Ariel Sharon wants. He has never agreed with a negotiated peace, nor with the right of the Palestinians to a state of their own. His entire life has been devoted to the expulsion of Palestinians from the lands of Biblical Israel and he has repeatedly demonstrated that he is willing to sacrifice the lives of countless Jews and Palestinians to achieve his goal. Utilizing the combined power of the Israel Lobby and the Christian Right in the United States, Sharon has now succeeded in convincing the U.S. president to adopt his vision of ethnic cleansing and genocide as the "final solution" to the conflict in the Middle East. Such a vision can only bring disaster to the peoples of the Middle East - Jews and Arabs alike - and is fraught with dangers for the American people, as well.