As Israel jumps from one self-made crisis to the next, the State of Israel itself is in an alarming condition.
Wake Up and Smell the Occupation
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Middle East & North Africa
Roadmap To Nowhere
The new U.S. “road map” for peace in the Middle East presented by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William J. Burns is no more than a placebo for consumption by both Palestinians and the world community in response to their pressuring Israel for positive movement toward immediately ending the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. It is also perhaps an attempt to somehow justify Bush’s planned road trip to/through Iraq.
President Bush Fails to Make His Case
Given what is at stake, one would have thought that the administration would have made a stronger case for going to war than President George W. Bush did on Monday evening.
Losing Focus
A year ago, in his address to the nation, President Bush vowed, “I will not yield, I will not rest, I will not relent” in leading the war against terror. For about five months, it appeared that he intended to carry through on this solemn commitment–the war in Afghanistan was waged with vigor and dispatch, and Al Qaeda was severely damaged. But since January, the president has turned American attention and resources away from Al Qaeda to lead a crusade against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, pushing the anti-terrorism campaign to the sidelines.
Silence Is Betrayal
Dan Handelman is haunted by two images of Iraq that most Americans never see on television.
The Economic Costs of a War with Iraq
Starting a war with Iraq] is clearly a decision that is motivated by George W Bush’s desire to please the arms and oil industries in the United States of America.” —Nelson Mandela
The Economic Impact of Going to War with Iraq
I want to begin with two caveats. The first is that if attacking Iraq clearly fell into the category of a just war, we should of course spend whatever it would take to wage it. Providing for the common defense is our government’s first mandate. But by my reckoning our government has not remotely made the case that this would in fact be a just war. I’ll just mention quickly a couple of reasons, which the president’s speech yesterday at the UN did not change.
War in Iraq: The Oil Factor
How much is the Bush administration’s push for war with Iraq motivated by its desire to gain control of Iraq’s oil fields? “Regime change” to a pro-U.S. government would permit the privatization of Iraq’s state-controlled oil resources—and a bonanza for U.S. oil companies. As former South African president Nelson Mandela said in a recent interview in Newsweek, “It is clearly a decision that is motivated by George W. Bush’s desire to please the arms and oil industries in the United States of America.”
The Prisoner as Message
The United States’ recent stance on the case of Saadeddin Ibrahim is the first time since the signing of the Camp David Accords 25 years ago that America has made its aid for Egypt conditional upon a human rights issue. This decision has raised many questions within both Arab and international circles. What position do human rights occupy in U.S.-Egyptian relations? Or in the policies of the United States itself? Is the attempt to link human rights to the case of Ibrahim a sincere decision, or some sort of fabrication? If the latter, what is its goal? And what is the impact of this move likely to be, both on the future of U.S.-Egyptian relations, and on the future of Ibrahim himself?
No Thank You, Mr. President
Following the end of the 1967 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli government decided to knock down the barriers separating Eastern Jerusalem and annex the eastern Palestinian neighborhoods. Expecting immediate American pressure to withdraw from the conquered territories, the government rushed in and took control. The pressure never came. That expectation was based on past experience: In 1956 the U.S. forced Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Desert back to the international border, in three months. In 1967, though, surprisingly, no such demand was made. On the contrary–the Americans allowed Israel to start a construction lunge, building neighborhoods in Eastern Jerusalem, settlements in the West Bank, in Sinai, and in the Golan Heights. Not only was there no pressure to withdraw, but Israel received a generous three billion dollars of funding annually, which went mainly to subsidize the American weapons industry.