|
|
|
Palestine: Where Will the U.S. 'Road Map' Lead?With Washington victorious in Iraq, the White House is now promoting its "road map" to peace in Israel and Palestine. The road map is a U.S. response to criticism that it has failed to address the escalating Israeli occupation. It is primarily designed to provide a political cover for Bush, Tony Blair and the Arab regimes that backed Washington's war on Iraq. The road map is a negotiating plan created by the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations--known as the Quartet. Its stated objectives are to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine, to negotiate an independent Palestinian state and to ensure Israeli security. The road map even sets out timetables.
In the first period, the Palestinians are supposed to end the intifada, recognize Israel's right to exist, appoint an "empowered" prime minister and begin drafting a constitution that would be subject to the Quartet's approval. Although the first period hasn't yet started, the Palestinian Authority has already sidelined President Yasir Arafat and accepted the U.S.-imposed selection of Abu Mazen as prime minister. There was no election or attention paid to Palestinian public opinion on the matter. It is not until the second period that the road map calls for Israel to begin to withdraw its troops from the areas it illegally reoccupied in 2002 or to actually stop adding new settlements on Palestinian territory. In the third phase, a "provisional" Palestinian state with temporary borders "might" be created. After that, the final phase would lead to negotiations on permanent status issues such as borders, refugees, Jerusalem and settlements. This road map has serious problems. It defers the issue of Palestinian refugees to the final status talks after the potential creation of the "provisional" Palestinian state. And, while "ending occupation" is a stated objective, it is not defined. This allows Israel to claim that "the occupation" is over, even while claiming permanent control of huge settlement blocs throughout the West Bank and Gaza, and maintaining control of all of Jerusalem as Israel's permanent capital. In fact, Israel has already stated that, "The purpose of the road map should be an end to the conflict…rather than an end to the 'occupation.'" That definition would mean making significant aspects of Israel's occupation permanent and ignoring the rights of Palestinian refugees. The New York Times reports that Israel "sees a final Palestinian state as holding less than half the West Bank, with no presence in Jerusalem, no military and no control over its own airspace." If the defenders of Israel's occupation in the Bush administration, now largely unchallenged, continue to have their way, that may be exactly where this road map leads. Phyllis Bennis is author of "Before and After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Sept. 11 Crisis" and a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. |
|
|
War Times/Tiempo de Guerras is a fiscally sponsored project of the |
