- My biggest disappointment in President
George W. Bush has been in how he has allowed himself to be manipulated
by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
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- He has followed the same failed policy
that his predecessor did.
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- That policy can be summed up as "the
Israelis are always right, and the Palestinians are always wrong."
That's a very convenient policy for politicians who don't want the powerful
Israeli lobby on their case. But if the goal is peace, the policy is a
failure. If the goal is to protect America's interests, the policy is a
failure. If the goal is to bring stability to the Middle East, the policy
is a failure. If the goal is to eliminate terrorism, the policy is a failure.
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- Now, when people pursue a policy that
has not achieved the goals it was supposed to, there are three possible
reasons. One, the people are stupid. I think we can eliminate that. Nobody
in the White House is stupid. A second reason is that they are afraid to
change the policy because of domestic political pressure. A third reason
could be that their goals are not the ones they publicly espouse.
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- I never thought I would feel sympathy
for Yasser Arafat, but he's been put into an untenable position. Imagine
a football game. Imagine that you take the coach away and lock him up in
a room. Imagine that you shoot half his team. And then imagine how silly
it sounds for you to demand of the coach that he win the game.
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- Arafat is under house arrest. He can't
walk outside without chipping his teeth on the muzzles of Israeli tanks.
For weeks, no matter who did what, the Israelis have bombed and shelled
the Palestinian Authority police stations - along with their equipment
and files. The Israelis have killed and injured numerous PA policemen.
Yet Sharon continues to demand that Arafat stop terrorism, and no matter
what Arafat says or what he does, Sharon scoffs at it.
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- Now, to our international shame, the
Bush administration has adopted the same pathetic line. Like a flock of
parrots, Bush and his people repeat whatever Sharon says. It's not just
people in the Arab countries who see this sorry spectacle. People all over
the world are wondering how it is that a little country like Israel can
jerk the chain of a powerful nation like the United States.
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- A few facts: The Palestinians are right.
The Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza is illegal.
When the occupation ends, peace follows. As long as the occupation continues,
so will the resistance.
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- Sharon has no intention of ending the
occupation or of negotiating in good faith. Israel's treatment of the Palestinians
is a brutal record of human-rights violations, violations of the Geneva
Accords and violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
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- It ought to make every American angry
that our politicians tell us U.N. Security Council resolutions are worth
the lives of Americans to enforce against Iraq but are to be vetoed and
spit upon when directed at Israel. Our policy is an insult to anyone who
supports the United Nations, and, frankly, people in Europe are getting
sick of it.
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- Israel has hired two public-relations
firms, in addition to its American lobby, because it is scared to death
that Americans are going to wake up and see the connection between the
Israel First policy and the attacks that occurred Sept. 11. It need not
worry about the Bush administration or most of the Israel First journalists,
but I hope the American people have not all lost their ability to think
and to reason.
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- In the meantime, the Bush administration
ought to replace the American eagle with a parrot clutching an Israeli
flag in one claw and a tin cup in the other.
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- ___
Former Orlando Sentinel columnist
Charley Reese writes for King Features Syndicate.
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- http://archive.showmenews.com/2002/feb/20020207comm003.asp
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