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[Odler]

(Too bad you were busy watching the World Cup; you completely missed out on that one.) Two weeks ago, George Bush left the Republican Party and became a member of the Israeli Likud Party of Ariel Sharon.

The President did not state it clearly, but the speech he delivered on that afternoon of Tuesday, June 27, 2002, was much like a picture worthy of a thousand words. This allocution must have been written by Ariel Sharon or Bibi Netanyahu, or both. Even some members of the Israeli Congress (Knesset) disagreed with it.

Basically, Bush demanded the dismissal (or resignation) of Yasser Arafat as a condition sine qua non for America to caution the creation of a Palestinian state. Thereby he did what Sharon feared to do openly: forgo the 1993 Oslo agreement that officially recognizes the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

Bush continued by asking that the Constitution of the Palestinian Authority be changed and adapted to warrant a free-market economy. That really went beyond the lay understanding when everyone knows that Israel DOES NOT have a constitution, does not have official borders, and by essence enacts one of the most radical SOCIALIST system on this planet. Free market, my eye!

Bush threatened to withdraw the 100-million dollar American aid package to Palestine if his conditions are not fulfilled. And in case they are, it will take at least another three (3) years for his government to accept any official declaration of independence coming from the occupied Palestinian territories. (NB: ?Illegally occupied? says the United Nations.)

This new attitude is a single-handed blow given by the Bush administration to the peace process. No one has been that far on the road to denying the Palestinians the rights they have acquired at the negotiation table. Rights for which Yasser Arafat was honored with a Nobel Prize, rights for which Yitzak Rabin lost his life.

The curious side of this story is that it is unlikely for Bush to obtain what he asked for. If History is of any index, the Palestinian electorate is quite unlikely to heed Bush?s advice. The President actually might have just given a big push to Arafat in his reelection campaign.

Worse, his speech will probably create more tangles in the muddy water of the Mideast. Why? Because America will no longer be seen as a fair broker in the negotiations. Washington is now squarely in the Israeli camp.

Why did Bush move so far from the center where he stood at the beginning of April when he called on Sharon to free the West Bank and to withdraw from Bethlehem? When he sent Powell to Arafat?

The answer may lie in his courtship of the American Jewish electorate in the context of this November congressional elections, and in preparation of the presidential elections of 2004. Jewish traditionally vote democrat; and the President does not hold a majority. After the Mexican dance, the anti-Castro movement, now the Zionists?

The consequence of this loss of effective mediation may be more suicide bombing in Jerusalem, and more Israeli wanton destruction and killing in Palestine. Too sad, really too sad?

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(OdlerRobert Jeanlouie, Thursday, July 11, 2002)