Let’s hear it for Saddam Hussein’s most important comrade–the man who has done more than anyone else to frustrate George Bush’s big push on Baghdad. Take a bow, Ariel Sharon.
Ariel Sharon, Take A Bow
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Middle East & North Africa
Sharon’s War
In his televised address to the Israeli public following another deadly suicide bombing in Haifa, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared that once again Israel has no other choice but to wage war. As the military activated 20,000 army reservists, the largest number since the Israeli invasion of Lebanon–another unnecessary war masterminded by Sharon–the Israeli leader promised that this war will be a widespread, prolonged, and bloody campaign.
Finding America’s Voice in the Middle East
As U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell continues his special focus on the Middle East it is possible that his message, like that of the U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. special envoy Anthony Zinni, may be lost. America is clearly turning up the volume with the presence of such high-level American officials in the region. The problem, however, is not one of amplification, but rather of credibility and clarity. Until America finds its own voice in the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, it is unlikely that America’s voice will be heard or heeded in the Arab world.
When History Repeats Itself, Again And Again
The first Palestinian refugee camps were a product of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. In 1967, when Israel militarily occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, a second wave of Palestinian refugees was created. Today, Ariel Sharon and his government are creating a third wave of Palestinian refugees by attacking those very same refugees who, decades ago, fled for their lives and have been living under illegal Israeli occupation ever since.
Challenges for Peace Movement in Time of War
The tragic events of September 11 have created unprecedented challenges for the peace movement, anti-interventionist forces, and other progressive activists. For the first time in the lives of most Americans, the U.S. has found itself under attack.
Get Out of the Territories
As war raged in the occupied territories, peace flowered in Tel Aviv. On Saturday, February 16, 14,000 Israelis marched, sang peace anthems, lit candles, and demanded Israel “Get out of the territories, get back to ourselves!”
A Despot in Washington
A few days before his visit to the United States, President Pervez Musharraf said he was running a “fragile, soft” state. The western media, too, is awash with stories of a reformist general living dangerously in a volatile country. Yet, even rumors of a coup from within the ranks, or a popular Islamic insurgency, did not arise as he left Islamabad on Friday (February 8) for Boston to see his son, three days before the start of his official visit. On the contrary, the more days he gets to spend in the United States, the more secure his position seems to get at home.
Deconstructing George W. Bush: A Critical Analysis of the 2002 State of the Union Address
President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address on January 29, 2002 was the first in many years to focus primarily on foreign policy. Despite widespread accolades in the media and strong bipartisan support in Congress, a careful examination of the language and assumptions in the address raise disturbing questions about the direction of U.S. foreign policy under the current administration. What follows are some excerpts consisting of the majority of the speech addressing foreign policy issues and interspersed with some critical commentary. This should not be interpreted as in any way minimizing the very real danger from terrorism, or the need for a decisive response, nor to imply that Bush administration policy regarding terrorism and other foreign policy issues has been totally negative. Yet the failure to recognize the misleading verbiage and to recognize the dangerous implications of such words–however eloquent and reassuring to a nation that has experienced such trauma in recent months–will not only make us less safe from the threat of terrorism, but will deprive Americans of our greatest defense and asset: our freedom to question and challenge government policies that are not in the best interests of our country and the world.
Emerging Alternatives in Palestine
Since it began 15 months ago, the Palestinian Intifada has had little to show for itself politically, despite the remarkable fortitude of a militarily occupied, unarmed, poorly led, and still dispossessed people that has defied the pitiless ravages of Israel’s war machine. In the United States, the government and, with a handful of exceptions, the “independent” media have echoed each other in harping on Palestinian violence and terror, with no attention at all paid to the 35-year Israeli military occupation, the longest in modern history: as a result, American official condemnations of Yasser Arafat’s Authority after 11 September as harboring and even sponsoring terrorism have coldly reinforced the Sharon government’s preposterous claim that Israel is the victim, the Palestinians the aggressors in the four-decade war that the Israeli army has waged against civilians, property, and institutions without mercy or discrimination. The result today is that the Palestinians are locked up in 220 ghettos controlled by the army; American-supplied Apache helicopters, Merkava tanks, and F-16s mow down people, houses, olive groves, and fields on a daily basis; schools and universities as well as businesses and civil institutions are totally disrupted; hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed and tens of thousands injured; Israel’s assassinations of Palestinian leaders continue; unemployment and poverty stand at about 50%–and all this while General Anthony Zinni drones on about Palestinian “violence” to the wretched Arafat, who can’t even leave his office in Ramallah because he is imprisoned there by Israeli tanks, while his several tattered security forces scamper about trying to survive the destruction of their offices and barracks.
2002: The Year of 2’s
“We Palestinians believe that the creation of the State of Israel was a grave political error, one which has done grievous harm to the interests of all concerned […]. But it was not merely an error, it was also a crime. A crime perpetrated against the natural, fundamental, and inalienable rights of the Palestinians.” (A Palestinian Strategy for Peaceful Coexistence: On the Future of Palestine, Said Hammami as quoted in Israel: Apartheid State, Uri Davis, 1975).