ZGram - 9/25/2002 - "Can Israel Also Defy the UN?"
irimland@zundelsite.org
irimland@zundelsite.org
Wed, 25 Sep 2002 19:19:27 -0700
ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny
September 25, 2002
Good Morning from the Zundelsite:
More and more mainstream papers, such as the Christian Science
Monitor, are saying what sorely needs to be said:
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Commentary > The Monitor's View
from the September 25, 2002 edition
Can Israel Also Defy the UN?
Events in the Middle East can take quick, unforeseen turns.
Washington is having to keep this volatility in mind as it tries to
rally support for its policies in the region. And high among its
concerns is just what the closest US ally there, Israel, will do when
provoked.
Consider the Israeli siege of Yasser Arafat's battered headquarters
in the West Bank city of Ramallah. It began after last week's renewal
of Palestinian suicide attacks.
Those attacks were launched, as usual, by extremist factions over
which Mr. Arafat has little, if any, control. But Israeli leader
Ariel Sharon seized the moment to refocus his military might on
Arafat's compound. Some speculate the goal is to make life so
miserable for the Palestinian president that he finally agrees to
exile.
Arafat, however, seems to revel in the situation, vowing he'll never
wave a white flag, turn over even the names of those trapped with him
(some of whom are wanted by Israel), or leave Palestinian soil.
Arafat's cause received some help from a United Nations Security
Council resolution (with the US abstaining) calling for Israel to
lift the siege. Israel, however, is likely to ignore the UN call and
is in fact broadening its military operations, thrusting deep into
Gaza to demolish weapons workshops and the houses of suspected
terrorists.
Washington has to view all this with alarm. The Bush administration
has rightly criticized the siege of Arafat's compound as damaging to
efforts to reform Palestinian government and sideline Arafat
peacefully. Instead, popular opinion is rallying around the embattled
leader.
The US also can't help worrying that any excessive use of force by
Israel could derail efforts to muster support among Arab leaders for
military action against Iraq. Certainly Israeli defiance of the UN
resolution will generate new charges of a double standard: Why can
Israel violate such resolutions while Iraq can't?
US worries had to be deepened by the Sharon government's declaration
that if there were another war in the Gulf, and Iraqi missiles took
flight toward Tel Aviv, Israel would not restrain itself as it did in
1991.
Sharon did ease the Ramallah siege as US criticism mounted.
Washington's voice is heard. But there's always the possibility that,
given Israel's own very strong ideas of how to deal with unfriendly
neighbors, that voice may not be fully heeded.
The fact is, however, that Bush plans in the Middle East could hinge
on a cooperative Israel.
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(SOURCE: http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0925/p10s03-comv.html )