The progress report card that US Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni will take back with him to Washington today should give Yasser Arafat a double A for effort and results, and Ariel Sharon a less than passing grade.
Since Arafat publicly declared a cease-fire on Dec. 16, there has been a dramatic drop in the level of violence. The conditions, then, are right for progress. So said Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN envoy to the Middle East. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana was in the region yesterday to build on Zinni’s efforts for a lasting cease-fire. A senior Sharon aide has said that the volume of Palestinian attacks has fallen by about 50 percent. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said the drop in the number of attacks might already have approached what was needed to put the Mitchell plan into motion, adding there was no sense in rewarding Arafat’s efforts in restoring calm with more repression and more roadblocks.
Yet, Sharon has adamantly stuck to his position that seven days of absolute quiet must pass before any negotiations can begin. It is an unrealistic demand that allows a single stone thrower to hold peace hostage. For the record, such a stipulation has no mention in the Mitchell Report. Obviously, Sharon’s policy is to stall as he demands the impossible and wait for something, actually instigate it, to derail the peace process. His aim in the occupied and reoccupied territories is calculated to provoke violent Palestinian responses. The editors of Ha’aretz have seen through this charade, blasting him for blatantly provoking Palestinian leaders.
He has told Peres that creating a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip was no longer a goal of Israel and that his discussions with Palestinian parliamentary Speaker Ahmed Qorei on a future state should be restricted to security issues, emphasizing that Peres was not authorized to initiate political talks with the Palestinian Authority. The statements reinforce the Sharon government’s position from the outset almost one year ago: Its determination never to allow the emergence of a viable Palestinian state. Sharon is creating a sense of hopelessness so deep among Palestinians about their struggle for statehood that he hopes they will accept whatever bantustans and cantons he eventually carves out for them.
Then, there is Israel’s announcement that its forces had pulled out of several West Bank cities. Palestinian officials describe the deployment a fake and a propaganda ploy aimed at deceiving Zinni. One added ploy has been Israel’s claim that a Palestinian ship in the Red Sea laden with 50 tons of weapons was destined for the Palestinians. The Palestinians categorically deny any involvement with the ship and have called for a three-way investigation, along with the US and Israel, into where the ship was destined.
The ship issue came out of the blue, on Zinni’s first day in the region, providing more questions about Sharon’s stall tactics. But when the moment of truth arrives — Zinni will return in 12 days to start implementing the Mitchell Report — Sharon will hopefully be at a loss to find new provocations that will enable him to claim that Palestinian violence is incurable and makes any peace process impossible.
