US President George W. Bush’s recent speech describing his vision for solving the Palestinian problem gave the impression that we are passing through an age of the law of the jungle. The speech also gave us the feeling that such men as he and Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon, who personifies terrorism and oppression, make principles of human rights and international law stand on their heads. The US president orders world leaders to support his unjust acts and proposals or else consider themselves his enemies. Bush’s speech proved beyond doubt that he and Sharon are two sides of the same coin. So Bush must be called BuSharon.
While Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar commented that the US president’s speech was originally written in Hebrew, British journalist Robert Fisk thought that Bush should allow Sharon to run the White House press office so that Bush would be spared the ignominy of parroting Israeli statements. The Israeli media viewed the speech as another victory for the Jews though, in their usual fashion, they asked for more favors.
In his speech, BuSharon condescended to dole out some crumbs to Palestinians on condition that Palestinian fathers kill their sons or the sons betray their fathers to guarantee Israel’s security. According to a columnist in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, BuSharon’s speech aimed to serve his own interests. His objective is to win full Zionist support in his bid for a second term in the White House. In return, he will help Sharon annex all Palestinian land.
It is shameful to note that while BuSharon’s speech did not get the support of world leaders, including some of US allies, the Palestinian Authority hastened to welcome the speech even before studying it. The Palestinian leader justified his reaction saying that the US president made a serious contribution toward the peace process.
Another Arab leader described the speech as balanced, adding that since the Palestinians accepted it, all was well. Some of us are still looking forward to US success in establishing peace and calling “BuSharon” a friend! What shameful servitude! This speech was the “historic vision” the world has been waiting for the US president to unveil. True justice apparently is the return of all Palestinian lands to their original owners as well as the return of all Jews to the countries from where they migrated in the first place. There is no country for all Muslims or for all Christians, so why should there be one for all Jews?
A number of eminent writers have written on BuSharon’s vision. I write on this topic as a Muslim woman seeking to relieve the pain in my heart. I also pray day and night to God, the Most Merciful, to remove the miseries of the Muslims and give them back their former glory.
BuSharon devoted most of his speech to guaranteeing Israel’s security and protecting its interests as if Israelis were the legitimate owners of the land. The world has not forgotten the fact that the Jews have taken the Arab lands by force over the past 55 years. While he called for a halt to all Arab assistance to the Palestinians, BuSharon did not say that he would stop American and Jewish assistance to Israel. While BuSharon labels the Palestinian struggle as terrorism, the United Nations condemns the Israeli occupation, demanding its withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967 though Israel has never paid the slightest attention to the UN resolution.
How long does BuSharon expect the Palestinians to keep quiet about their usurped lands and the 35-year-old occupation? We Arabs fight the Israelis, not because they are Jews but because they have usurped Arab lands. We did not fight Jews when they were living amidst us in peace for centuries in the past. We oppose the usurpers of lands whatever their religion or race — Muslim, Christian, Jewish or Arab. We fought Iraq, an Arab and Muslim country, for occupying Kuwait.
BuSharon did not charge Israel with international terrorism when its army razed Palestinian buildings and homes in the most inhuman manner. On the contrary, BuSharon supported Israeli terrorism by keeping a UN commission from investigating the Jenin massacre. He displayed his deep sympathy for the oppressor, Israel, when he said in the speech that he understood the severe pain and anger suffered by Israelis as they lived under the shadow of fear and mourning keeping away from markets and public buses.
His description of Israelis living under the shadow of fear does not agree with the facts. Their living under the shadow of fear began only after the martyrdom operations began a few years ago. The oppressed Palestinians resorted to such operations only after they lost hope for a peaceful restoration of their basic rights and an end to the miseries and humiliations caused by the Israeli occupiers. But addressing the Palestinians, BuSharon said he understood the deep anger and disappointment under which the Palestinians have been living for decades as pawns in the Middle East crisis. He did not refer to the fact that in the past decades, they have been driven from their homes and lands to unhealthy camps in biting cold and sweltering heat, deprived by the Israelis with US support of the most basic human rights. He also did not say that the Palestinians lack the rights enjoyed by even his dog. The Jews have been enjoying more than their share of rights from the beginning. It is our right to define state terrorism, as we are its victims. The people in the US have suffered an act of terrorism carried out by individuals on Sept. 11. Calling that international terrorism, the US mobilized all its arsenal of massive destruction against some Muslim countries on the pretext of self-defense. Further, the US labeled the Palestinians who resisted the occupation with the only weapons they could find — their bodies, stones and some primitive weapons — as terrorists.
Is not a veto supporting Israel’s state terrorism another terrorist act? Is not the threat to stop financial aid and food supplies to a country or people if they do not obey the dictates of the US another kind of terror? Is not the threat to stay away from peace efforts if the Palestinian people vote Yasser Arafat to power again a kind of terror?
The instances of US terrorist acts against the weak nations of the world abound. Let BuSharon and the Jews know that they will never succeed in breaking the will of the Palestinian people. If the Palestinians are silenced for one day, they will not remain silent. The volcano will certainly explode as the Israeli occupation violates a blessed land and a sacred mosque.
