Jordanian Perspective With Sharon at the helm...
Musa Keilani

A good article although the author thinks that the "Road Map" and " The Geneva accord" are fair deals for the Palestinian Arabs!!! 

Jordanian Perspective

With Sharon at the helm...
Musa Keilani

"The truth embedded in Sharon's approach to the Palestinians is that he does not find any reason to have a realistic basis for peace that would warrant giving up territory that Israel seized through war. "

" Two opinion polls carried out by the Maariv daily, with a four-month gap, showed that the number of Israelis who do not trust Sharon is growing. It was 40 per cent in August and today it is 47 per cent. Another Maariv poll showed last week that 55 per cent of Israelis were not satisfied with Sharon's performance. "

ISRAELI PRIME Minister Ariel Sharon would be prudent and realistic to take Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia's warning that Israel's “security wall” that cuts through the West Bank would also cut apart any prospect for peace and breed extremist attacks against Israelis.

It is not as if Qureia were threatening Israel, and Sharon would be making a big mistake if he took the Palestinian leader's warning to be a threat justifying some Israeli retaliation which would trigger more “terrorist” attacks. Indeed, given Sharon's track record, he is most likely to adopt that attitude to avoid accepting recognition and respect for Palestinian rights as the basis for peace in Palestine.

It is clear that the “security wall” reflects Sharon's designs to keep for Israel whatever it deems fit to keep for itself, regardless of any peace negotiations. Once built, the wall becomes fait accompli and, like the concrete Jewish settlements that dot the West Bank, the “barrier” will never be dismantled.

The Palestinians and the international community which supports their legitimate right know this well and Qureia's words reflected the concern stemming from the realisation that Sharon is not committed to peace but bent on imposing his will and terms for peace on the Palestinians.

Sharon is not fooling anyone when he declares that he wants to dismantle some of the settlements. The settlements he refers to are nothing but outposts, some of them deserted and some others housing a dozen or so settlers each. It is more expensive and cumbersome for Sharon to offer military protection to these outposts so he is doing a service to himself by moving to remove them. We have seen this charade before and, no doubt, will see more of it unless Sharon is checked.

It is interesting to see that at least half of the Israelis are seeing through Sharon's deception and have realised that it does not bode well for their security. That is a realistic assessment of the situation since Sharon is undermining the security of his own people by indulging in actions that would only herald more suicide bombings and attacks against Israelis by frustrated Palestinians who are getting no real help from the world except words and declarations. They know that real pressure on Israel is warded off by the political clout that some of its allies wield around the world and it is not realistic to express any pressure on Israel under the present geopolitical realities in the Middle East and the international scene.
One wonders how Sharon could afford to overlook the growing feeling among Israelis that they are being railroaded into a situation where their hopes for long-term security would be the first casualty. Two opinion polls carried out by the Maariv daily, with a four-month gap, showed that the number of Israelis who do not trust Sharon is growing. It was 40 per cent in August and today it is 47 per cent. Another Maariv poll showed last week that 55 per cent of Israelis were not satisfied with Sharon's performance.
The surveys reflect a reality that we in Jordan and elsewhere in the Arab world know but that is now taking hold among Israelis: Sharon does not have a realistic strategy for a lasting peace and is only interested in addressing short-term concerns.

The truth embedded in Sharon's approach to the Palestinians is that he does not find any reason to have a realistic basis for peace that would warrant giving up territory that Israel seized through war. Being a military man first — and a ruthless one at that, he does not believe in returning territory seized through military means. It would take a Herculean effort to convince him to do so, and it would be too late for realistic peace by the time the convincing is done.

Therefore, what we see ahead of us is spiralling bloodshed in Palestine in the days and months ahead until such time Sharon's allies in the West decide that enough is enough and it is time to face realities in Palestine and to apply realistic pressure on him.

Nothing short of that would work and it is a pipe dream to expect practical proposals like the Geneva initiative, that defines a mechanism to implement the Quartet-backed “roadmap” for peace, to take off without Sharon being deprived of the power that he wields today.