Palestinians draw a blank once again

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN) NOV. 10 A lot of lip-service was paid to the Palestinian cause by the U.S. and the rest of the West in the early weeks after the September 11 events. The addressing of a ``root cause'' of terrorism was of course all along secondary to the primary objective of fighting terror, but it was still much more in focus than at any time since the Bush administration took office. Now that the U.S. is well into its war on terror it seems to have calculated that it either will not get the support it wanted from the Arab world or that this support is in any case not needed. result-the Palestinian potato has again become hot.

It was reported that the U.S. administration was bestirring itself to issue a major policy statement on the Israel- Palestinian dispute at the U.N. General Assembly session originally scheduled for September. The suicide attacks on New York and Washington caused the postponement of that session. But it also seemed to have increased the need for a more pro-active U.S. approach on the Israel-Palestinian dispute. In the first few weeks it did appear that the U.S. was addressing itself to the matter since some Israeli actions were strongly rebuked and opinions in respect of the dispute were taken on board when senior U.S. officials like Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, launched several rounds of consultations.

But now all that is so much water down the Jordan. Far from a meeting with Palestinian Authority President, Mr. Yasser Arafat, in New York or even Washington (as has had been hoped for at a time) U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush, is reportedly not even ready for a chance encounter or even a hand-shake in the corridors of the U.N. building. Just before the session U.S.

National Security Advisor, Ms. Condelezza Rice, tells the press that Mr. Arafat must realize that he can not ``fight al Qaeda while he embraces Hizbollah''-almost echoing the words of Israel's Prime Minister, Mr. Ariel Sharon, that Mr. Arafat is a terrorist who can not join the war against terrorism.

U.S. policy on Palestine at this juncture has so infuriated the Arabs that even the usually soft-spoken Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, Prince Saud al Faisal, has used language he has almost never used before. He said that he was ``angrily frustrated'' and that the U.S. refusal to actively mediate between Israel and the Palestinians was enough to make a ``sane man go mad''.

Gen. Powell, who appears to be trying to put out fires started by others in the administration, has said that he met Prince Saud last night and that the Saudi Foreign Minister was ``quite sane and had not gone mad''. Gen. Powell also noted that the situation in West Asia left many including himself ``angrily frustrated'' from time to time.

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Section  : International
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