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:

[START]

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 )