A clandestine undertaking on behalf of Israel, the Jets and the Jews.

 
Conspiracies and Arabs

An article by Mohammed Shaker Abdallah in the latest issue of The Jerusalem Times, an Arab weekly, demonstrates the unfortunate Arab paranoia about conspiracies to undermine the Arab position.

Abdallah expresses pessimism about the road map, in light of the Bush Administration's focus on controversies involving Iraq. He wonders whether the debate about Iraq is a result of "influential powers inside American society who want the Israeli occupation to continue forever and the Jewish settlements to swallow the entire Palestinian territories and identity."

Abdallah laments that "every time the prospects for a peaceful settlement in the Middle East arise and hopes seem to be high, some kind of mishap or trouble engulfs the American Administration... The first was when former US President George Bush dared to challenge the Israeli settlement policy and canceled the guarantees for loans then slated for the Israeli government unless given proof that these funds would not be used for settlement construction. Bush senior paid a costly price for this position and he lost his re-election campaign despite his stunning victory in Iraq. Another example was when former President Bill Clinton prepared to meet President Yasser Arafat in the White House after Clinton's infamous visit to Gaza and his speech before the PLC- this time and before the meeting, the first episode of the Lewinsky scandal exploded tarnishing the president's reputation for three more years."

Abdallah's thinking is interesting, as it is typical of Palestinian refusal to face reality. First, George Bush did not lose the 1992 election because of his pressure of Prime Minister Shamir (who himself was ousted by Yitzhak Rabin earlier in 1992), but because of an economic recession. As for the Lewinsky scandal, that did not stop Bill Clinton from calling a summit at Camp David in July 2000, for Barak to make unprecedented offers, for Clinton to issue his own plan requiring even further concessions by Israel, and for Barak to, egregiously, express support for the Clinton Plan. Abdallah forgets, ignors or refuses to accept the fact that an agreement was not reached in 2000 because of Yasser Arafat's refusal to make one, rather than because of "influential powers inside American society."
posted on 7/17/2003