The G-8 summit in Genoa, it is generally admitted, was a failure in the sense that it could not achieve any of its main objectives, specifically, the economic ones. However, the summit’s decision that international observers should be dispatched to monitor the situation in the occupied territories was a positive step.
That important political decision was the result of European and Arab pressure put on US President George W. Bush, who had believed, from the date he took office, that he should not interfere in the conflict. His hope was that the war criminal - Ariel Sharon — would succeed in crushing the Intifada and, thus, breaking the will of Yasser Arafat. In fact, the G-8 decision answers the demand the Palestinians have been making, for the past eight months, for international observers assigned by the UN Security Council. Sharon, however, protested the decision because he wanted CIA members or US observers for this mission.
The question asked by observers was why Sharon rejected the G-8 recommendations and what was the difference between international observers and US observers from the CIA, when the role of both was limited to submitting reports about the incidents of violence involving Israelis and Palestinians?
First of all, accepting international observers would mean that Sharon has failed to crush the Intifada, which was the promise he made during the election that won him the prime minister’s office.
Secondly, accepting the G-8 decision would mean a direct recognition that there is a state under occupation or a Palestinian entity recognized by the international community. It would put Palestinians under international protection. That is totally unacceptable to Israel.
Thirdly, international observers will not allow Israel to put any pressure on them to submit false reports. Truthful reports will expose the terrorism Israel is practicing against the unarmed Palestinians.
Fourthly, reports of international observers appointed by the Security Council will have the force of international law behind it and Israel will be obliged to accept it. Reports by others will not put this obligation on Israel.
Fifthly, it is in the Israelis’ interest to increase the number of CIA personnel because they are more loyal to Israel. In addition, their presence will ensure complete success for Sharon’s plan to wreck the Palestinian Authority, crush the intifada and terrorize the Palestinians without any protest from Washington or Europe.
These were the main reasons that made Sharon reject the G-8 decision on international observers. However, the decision was not without a flaw. It contains a clause requiring both the parties to accept the decision before it becomes operative, which makes it ineffective and incredible. So, in effect, the European efforts went in vain and the matter remained in the hands of Washington —Sharon’s ally.
The situation is explosive, especially in view of the escalation of violence by Israel. Its threats to Syria, Lebanon and Egypt may lead to a massive war in the Middle East, a war that may involve non-Arab countries in the region. The danger is all the more real, after the permission granted by Sharon and an Israeli court to the Trustees of Solomon’s Temple radical movement to lay the foundation stone for rebuilding the Temple on the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
This step would either be the straw that breaks the camel’s back or the event that rouses the anger of the Arab and Islamic world, from east to west, and launch a war of unknown results.
