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nemesis
2/4/2002 (14:53) |
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US policy in ME dismays Arabs
By Howard Schneider
CAIRO: If Sept 11 was a turning point in the way the United States deals with terrorism, many in the Arab world hoped it would also change the way America tackles the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Those hopes rose even further when, several weeks later, President Bush spoke of his vision for a Palestinian state.
And so, Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad Bin Jasim al-Thani said in a recent television interview, it is difficult to admit the truth as it is now seen through Arab eyes: Neither lobbying by American allies in the region nor the impact of the terrorist attacks has altered the path of US policy, which seems ever more tilted toward Israel.
There is, he said, only one option. 'We have to beg,' Hamad said. 'The word 'beg' disturbs me, but begging is the right word, for the Arabs don't possess the power, and their situation doesn't allow them to exercise any pressure in favour of the Palestinians.'
Few have put it so candidly. But Hamad's remarks reflected a broad anxiety that has developed among Arab leaders, analysts and citizens as they have seen US policy evolve since Sept 11. For them, it has moved not toward bridge building with the Arab world, but into neglect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which many in this region view as central to US-Arab relations.
That the United States could live through Sept 11 and not move more forcefully to resolve a dispute that has inflamed suicide bombers and increased the popularity of groups such as Hamas, mystifies even the staunchest Arab allies.
'What people in the West don't seem to realize is that this has an impact, that the US has relinquished its role as honest broker, facilitator,' Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said in an interview. The Americans 'have vanished,' Maher said. 'People don't know what the US is up to. There is a lot of confusion, and this is no time for confusion. It is very serious.'
As the cycle of suicide bombings and Israeli military action continued in recent weeks, the Bush administration followed Israel's lead in placing more of the blame on the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.
In a climate poisoned by Israeli assassinations and Palestinian suicide bombs, by the destruction of Palestinian homes and the discovery of a shipment of arms bound for Palestinian hands, US envoy Anthony Zinni has suspended his efforts to broker a cease-fire. In Congress, there has also been talk of breaking relations with Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
Arab commentators and officials say it is as if Arafat's marginalization has become a metaphor for the region as a whole. Just as the Palestinian leader has seemingly lost any leverage he may have had with the Israelis, so, it seems, have the Arab states been unable to sway the United States. That is an outcome seen here as contrary to US interests and to efforts to curb the extremism underlying the Sept 11 attacks.
The leaders of states close to the United States, particularly Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have repeatedly appealed for more US intervention. But they have little to show for it except a growing worry that the United States has discarded any hope of working with Arafat, who remains the only Palestinian Arab perceived as capable of delivering a durable peace agreement.
'Arab officials have reached a state where they can't give people justification or tell them `we are working on something,' said Hisham Youssef, a spokesman for the Arab League. 'This is probably the worst time that we have seen. It has confronted people with their weakness.'
Criticism of US bias toward Israel has been a staple of regional politics for decades. However, US influence and relations in the region have grown steadily deeper in spite of it.
Following its US-brokered peace accord with Israel in 1979, Egypt became a major recipient of US foreign aid and arms, and has accepted hundreds of American advisers and contractors to help overhaul its economy, administration and military. However, that took place against the backdrop of steady, if slow, progress toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement and a general belief that, even if the United States was not on the Palestinians' side, it would at least be a reasonably neutral referee.
The United States oversaw such substantive breakthroughs as the post-Gulf War Madrid Conference and was usually at the ready in a crisis with talks or meetings that provided at least the appearance of movement.
If even the pretence of engagement disappears, and the peace process is fully abandoned, Arab officials and analysts say, US relations in the region will enter an uncharted and difficult era. - LAT-WP News Service (c) The Washington Post.
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