Something of pivotal importance seems to have happened down on President Bush’s ranch when Ariel Sharon dropped by to visit this week. The president told the Israeli premier that planned expansion of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land, and just now that means the scheduled building of 3,500 new settler homes outside Jerusalem, should stop immediately.
On the face of it, Bush was canceling one of the major benefits that Sharon expected from his withdrawal of the Gaza Strip. Move out 8,500 Israelis from 21 hard and expensive-to-defend Gaza settlements and relinquish four low-grade settlements among the 120 on the West Bank and as a reward Sharon was counting on American support to lock down the status quo, leave the road map gathering dust in a drawer and continue the occupation of Palestine. Now Sharon’s withdrawal from Gaza suddenly looks more like simply the first surrender of occupied land with the Americans expecting a significant part, though not yet all of the West Bank to follow. The hard-line Israeli leader looks to have been forced to do a rethink by the Bush White House. Sharon’s unilateral tearing up of the road map with the Gaza evacuation no longer looks so smart. It is however early days. As Sharon has been so fond of saying about the Palestinians, the Americans now need to show deeds, not words. If this is just one more sleight of hand designed purely to protect Israel, then Washington’s already tattered reputation in the Middle East will be ripped yet further.
This hinges upon the long-overdue recognition that the tragedy of Palestine lies at the core of all the failures that Washington has encountered in its war against global terror. The patent injustice and misery suffered by the Palestinians have been a great boon for extremists. They have converted the disgust of decent Muslims into sympathy because they can present themselves as active enemies of America and of its support for Israeli oppression.
But what if America truly became the champion of justice for the Palestinians? What if Washington used its power and influence to drive the Israelis back to the peace table, ignore all their political feints and maneuvering and get them and the Palestinians back walking the road map to peace together, then where would Muslim extremism be? As the realization sank in to the Muslim world that finally the Americans were being even-handed with the Palestinians, the men of violence who claim to act in the name of justice and the oppressed would become isolated and shunned and left with nothing but their bigotry and their hatred.
Many will argue that such a change is wishful thinking and that Washington is still dancing to a Zionist tune. Yet the fact remains that Iraq has taught Bush’s hawkish advisers that they cannot have victories over terrorism while they allow Zionists to have continued victories over Palestinians. An independent Palestine with a just restitution for Israeli seizures represents less of a loss to this president than would continued failures against global terrorism.
