When the RAF virtually wiped the German city of Dresden off the map in the closing days of the war, it was claimed that the target had been local railway junctions. In fact, the devastating attack was designed to break the fighting spirit of the already virtually defeated Germans, by wreaking maximum destruction on a beautiful place which until then had been largely untouched by the war. And behind this again there was a darker motive of revenge, for the indiscriminate German bombing attacks on historic British cities like Coventry earlier in the war.
The British and Americans were, in short, out to make certain that Hitler and his Nazis reaped the whirlwind for their wickedness. The way to do this was to inflict catastrophic damage on the German population, who had permitted this monstrous regime to come to power. The Dresden raid did not have to happen; Germany was already on its knees.
The World War II allies had far less excuse for their barbarity than the Palestinians who use their bodies to deliver their message of despair. They are very far from defeating the Zionists who continue to oppress them. Washington’s refusal to understand the lessons and contradictions of history is compounding the tragedy of Palestine. Instead of assessing the problem for what it is, President Bush is determined to smite the Palestinians, regardless of the reasons for a resistance which most Palestinians reluctantly support.
The arrest of Palestinians in America accused of supporting terror groups is being billed as part of the overall US drive against terror. Because Al-Qaeda has proclaimed the oppression of the Palestinians as being one of the wrongs it wants righted, the Palestinian issue has become part of Bush’s anti-terror agenda. It is an object to be defeated, by brute force if necessary, not a problem to be solved by subtlety and understanding.
This plays into the hands of Ariel Sharon and his Zionist hawks, who are delighted to find that their subjugation of the Palestinian people can now be dressed up as executing US foreign policy and the Bush campaign against terror.
In as much as he understands the tragic recent history of the Middle East, George W. Bush sees that the issue of Palestine runs like a deadly poison through the region’s veins. Instead of seeking a peaceful antidote to the venom, he appears to be determined to cut out and block off the veins themselves. It is a policy of great ignorance and significant danger.
The alternative is still there for the taking, but it must be doubted if the Americans have the wisdom to seize it. Were the White House to see justice for the Palestinians as an essential precursor for any further interference in the Middle East, it could raise its regional stock and earn the right to be listened to with respect. It would at a stroke cut off one of the key platforms of Al-Qaeda and all extremists who believe that Washington represents a great evil. Reining in the Israelis and forcing them to take the path of peace and justice for the Palestinians is entirely within the power of the Bush White House.
But, Bush has a second-term election coming up and, like many presidents before him, fears the corrosive power of the US Zionist lobby. Thus, to win himself a second term, he will refuse to differentiate between the blind hate of Al-Qaeda and the desperate violent campaign of the Palestinians.
