As sure as the sun rising in the east, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands were among the lonely votes that joined Israel and the United States opposing a United Nations General Assembly resolution censuring Israel for its publicized intentions to “take out” the president of Palestine, Mr. Yasser Arafat.
Now I don’t know much about Micronesia, let alone being able to point it out to anyone on the map, but it must give plenty credence, comfort and gratification to the folks who conjure up United States foreign policy that they are not alone, and that there are sovereign nations out there who share their views on policies in the Middle East.
Arafat may be a man of many faults. As is George Bush Jr. But it is up to Arafat’s constituents to decide whether they want to retain him as their leader. And judging from the widespread support he has received in his country and abroad ever since Israel made its homicidal intentions public, it is clear his people want him as their leader.
And while the US harps on how he has been an impediment to peace — an obstacle to their designed road map if you will — it didn’t take long for the Palestinians to realize that this so-called road map was one to their extinction. For barely had the ink dried on the agreement, Israel went ahead by planning several more settlements on occupied land, and put into forward gear its bizarre plan of walling the Palestinians into isolated strips.
And not content with that, they took their butchery and rampage into civilian areas, snuffing out innocent lives and craftily blaming the failed peace process on isolated suicide bombings by some very mentally disturbed individuals.
And sure enough, Uncle Sam stood there by their side, echoing their words and singing their tune. By vetoing the UN Security Council resolution to censure Israel, the US government has once again demonstrated its duplicity when it comes to its foreign policy in this part of the world.
The fallacies of the doomsday threats of WMDs that this present administration had echoed so anxiously on the world stage, followed by similar scenarios of threats from countries such as Iran and Syria, without the slightest hint of displeasure at what the Israelis are up to or of their untiring build-up of WMDs in a region that could do well without them, smacks of hypocrisy unmatched in recent times.
And while this present US administration may be content to know that it is not alone, that indeed Micronesia and the Marshall Islands are at their beck and call, surely they must somehow realize that the rest of the world has had just about all it can stomach of the fare it is dishing out.
— Arab News Opinion 27 September 2003
