THE SLAUGHTER of five Palestinian policemen in the West Bank by Israeli troops was a deliberate act of murder, intended to provoke. The aim was to derail any chance of revived peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, which were just beginning to gather momentum Provocation has been the chosen weapon of the Israeli right from the moment last September when Ariel Sharon, as opposition leader, turned up at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. By infuriating Palestinians with his presence, he planned to kill two birds with one stone: destroy all hopes of a settlement and in the resultant instability win himself the premiership. He succeeded as planned.
Since then, he has repeatedly acted to prevent any chance of talks with Yasser Arafat occurring. Anything less than abject Palestinian humiliation — of which he knows there is no chance — he cannot permit: he knows that once discussions begin to look as if they might get somewhere, there will be pressures on the Israelis to make concessions, not least from the Israeli public. That is something he will not allow. For his own political purposes, he needs the intifada to go on and on. It is his means of sitting tight while at the same time trying to paint the Palestinians as the villains of the situation.
No one can have failed to notice that every time there is a glimmer of a chance of peace breaking out, the Israelis trigger Palestinians outrage with another act of brutality. It is manipulation by murder. The Palestinians are offering to talk? Kill a few more; that will put a stop to it. It is unbelievable that he gets away with it. That he can is thanks to America. Sharon knows that whatever Israel does or says, Washington will stand by it. Indeed, prior to President Bush’s election, his team went on record saying precisely that; any action that Israel took, they said, even if Washington was not happy about it, would have the new administration’s active support. The Bush administration could offer such a blank check because much as it might bridle at the notion of an Israeli tail wagging the American dog it knows that Israel has American public opinion completely behind it.
The scale of the American public’s blind attachment to Israeli interests can be seen by any visitor to the States who picks up a local paper or switches on the TV. Israel is constantly portrayed as if it were the 51st state. It was particularly, indeed shockingly visible just last week, in the wake of the visit to Syria by Pope John-Paul II. Normally in the US, the Catholic Church is above criticism, even in non-Catholic circles. But forced to choose between it and the Israelis, the American media firmly opts for the latter.
But papers like the New York Times and the Washington Post went further; the Vatican was attacked for allowing the Pope to visit Syria in the first place and he for not protesting at President Bashir Assad’s views. The scale of the attack, with the papers farcically accusing Damascus of “anti-Semitism” (who on earth do they think the Syrians are?), shows how powerful a grip the Israelis have on American minds.
If only the Palestinians had a New York Times or a CNN to promote their cause, things would be very different. That is why Sharon can continue with his murderous taunting ways without worry. He has America to protect him from international censure, to write open checks, and — in any final eventuality — to provide military backing if the carefully bred intifada blows up into regional war. Washington will not lift a finger against him. It will not do so because no administration is prepared to challenge Israel’s domination of the American media.
