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Monday, Apr 26, 2004

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ROGUE STATE BEHAVIOUR

ISRAEL'S PRIME MINISTER Ariel Sharon appears determined to perpetuate chaos in West Asia. When the Israeli hardliner informed the U.S. President, George W. Bush, that he no longer felt constrained by a commitment not to target Yasser Arafat for assassination, he played the opening gambit of a manoeuvre he has used to deadly effect in the past. On several occasions, Mr. Sharon has at first announced an intent to commit an outrageously irresponsible act, then waited for the shock to wear off, and finally followed through when conditions became more opportune. For instance, few people in the world believed he would carry out a threat to kill Palestinian leaders until his forces carried out a cold-blooded murder of the wheelchair-bound spiritual guide of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The international community had barely got over its revulsion before the Israelis killed another political leader of Hamas, Abdul Aziz Rantisi. There can be no doubt that Mr. Arafat is in real danger of losing his life since Mr. Sharon has often displayed a taste for psychopathic behaviour. The Israeli Prime Minister's terror tactics are directed not solely at militants or politicians but at the Palestinian people as a whole. His objective is to deprive the Palestinians of the capacity to form and operate political organisations as they struggle to secure rights that are both inalienable and internationally recognised.

The international community can take no comfort from the U.S. pronouncement that it will hold Israel to a three-year-old promise not to harm Mr. Arafat. Mr. Sharon has no reason to fear that he will lose American support. Washington has consistently refused to use the considerable leverage at its command, such as the threat of an aid cut-off, to restrain its main West Asian ally from committing atrocities. It has repeatedly exercised its veto power to strike down resolutions condemning the Zionist state's rogue behaviour that were moved by other member-countries of the United Nations. Mr. Sharon brushed aside the mild protests of the Bush administration as he built a boundary fence that cuts deep into the West Bank, creating enclaves isolated from one another. The U.S. President also endorsed an Israeli plan to keep large Jewish settlements in its possession and agreed that Palestinian refugees had no right to return to their ancestral homes. It is inconceivable that any section of the American political leadership will risk the wrath of the pro-Israel lobby in the midst of a tight presidential election campaign. The Bush administration is also likely to be accused of hypocrisy if it criticises the Sharon Government's methods at this juncture since the occupation forces under its command have adopted similar tactics to suppress the national resistance movement in Iraq. The forces in colonial occupation of the Palestinian territories and Iraq are bent on the pacification of the people subjected to their power and are not in the least interested in achieving peace.

True to his doughty character, Chairman Arafat has dared Israel to do its worst. Enemies, near and distant, might have thought that the disintegration of the Palestinian Authority had deprived its President of the institutions through which he could exercise leadership. Israel has confined Mr. Arafat to a headquarters complex in Ramallah for over three years and tried its best to erode his standing among his people. These measures have completely failed to overawe the Palestinian liberation movement. Chairman Arafat continues to be a powerful iconic figure and the actions of his enemies have only strengthened the bonds between him and his people.

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