Resolution No. 1397 designed and sought by the US from International Security Council has become one of the new tools in the Middle Eastern melodrama. Unfortunately, the international community couldn’t figure out the trick because it believed that the US was changing its stance in the Middle East.
In fact, the US was eager to see the resolution adopted at this time in order to serve its own strategic goals in the Middle East. It was designed shrewdly to ease tension with Arab countries in order to achieve the following:
1. The resolution calls for new negotiations for a Palestinian state which attracts the Arabs and lures them to the table. The proposed negotiations are to start with the Mitchell recommendations and the Tenet plan. This is necessary after Sharon’s failure to end the Intifada. The Israelis are disappointed because since Sharon has he has not fulfilled his election promises.
2. The “Palestinian state” approach, when used in negotiations, calms the Arabs, reduces Palestinian anger and retaliation against Israel. This is necessary because the US has finally realized the dangers to its interests in the region posed by the Arab masses.
3. Closing the door to any serious decisions at the Arab summit would not be against US political efforts. This is necessary because the US president has failed to convince the Arab leaders to postpone the proposed summit.
4. Resolution 1397 supports the US vice president in his visits seeking the consent of Arab leaders to attack Iraq. In fact, the US vice president wanted an agreement to an attack on Iraq in exchange for promising the Arabs a Palestinian state.
However, the resolution has come too late and lacks both support and credibility. No one really sees it as a tool to be used for a just peace and the withdrawal of Israel from Arab lands as well as the declaration of a Palestinian state. This is so because the US has dictated the resolution which serves its interests which the Arab leaders initially took as merely another pointless American maneuver. The resolution does not contain solutions to the basic issues in the conflict such as the return of refugees, the evacuation of Jewish settlements and the return of East Jerusalem. In the end, this resolution is the same as all other past ones that failed or were pushed aside and soon became invalid or useless.
In addition, Israel is determined to ignore any resolution that contradicts its expansionist policies. The US, in reality, wants to serve its interests through the introduction of the resolution since it thinks that nobody will hold it responsible for implementing it if it is refused by Israel. Furthermore, the contents of this resolution are not different from those in the memorandum at the Madrid conference which led to 10 wasted years of useless and fruitless negotiation.
Resolution 1397 is an American made-product, empty of meaning, dedicated to minimizing or halting Palestinians operations against the Zionist occupiers. It is imperative that we not be fooled by such tricks and games and remember that the real aim of the US is not peace in the Middle East but simply to attack Iraq. The US realizes, however, that it cannot attack Iraq without Arab consent. That consent will never be given to the US — the country which consistently ignores Arab rights and blindly and uncritically supports Israel.
