Who are you fooling? [Archives:2002/27/Viewpoint]

The G.W. Bush peace plan, initiative, or proposal (name it whatever you want) has caused a tremendously huge gap among Arab governments and the public. As we can safely assume that an overwhelming majority of the Arab people have seen this speech as an Israeli speech, some Arab governments astonishingly praised it thinking that it gives the Palestinian cause an edge.
Even the Palestinian Authority rushed into welcoming the speech, which proved later to be in direct harmony with the Sharon ideologies.
It was not long before the Authority expressed concern and rejection to the speech through its representative Nabil Shaath in the Arab media.
But what was even more interesting was the reaction of some Arab leaders who also cautiously welcomed the speech with the natural response of not being more royalist than the king himself. In other words, if the Palestinian leadership is welcoming it, why dont we? An Arab official also said, if they are happy with it and feel it will bring them a future, why should we oppose it. We surely want the Palestinians to be happy.
Hence, it is truly pathetic to see how Arab leaders have become so weak, willing to accept the harshest of criticism and conditions. By welcoming the speech, they have shown the world that Sharon is right and they are wrong. They have exposed their weakness and helplessness wide open for the world to see.
Imagine the reaction of Sharon while seeing the reaction of Arab leaders to be positive in response to such a speech that conditions the change of the Palestinian leadership, requests bringing western democracy into the picture, asks for the creation of an environment of peace and harmony while the people are suffering. At the same time, the speech has put no end to the curfew, continued to assist Israel on all grounds, and worst of all insulted Arab and Iranian governments directly and indirectly.
Slowly, the Arab leaders who had welcomed the speech realized the grave mistake they made. If the speech includes an illusion of any positive points, then why didnt those leaders think of the 90% negative points? Are they trying to fool themselves or their people?
Well, in any case those leaders didnt have to wait for too long before they could understand the true meaning of the speech. Israel raged into new cities and took over major buildings in al-Khalil, Ramallah, and other towns, while at the same time imposing a curfew on all cities in the West Bank. This is a direct and consequent step following the US speech. What was the reaction of the USA to this Israeli aggression? Nothing!
Dont those leaders feel ashamed of themselves? This is actually a test that they have again failed in. No matter how many tests they go through in the near future, they will certainly fail in the eyes of their people. I wonder if they know what the people think of them?

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