America needs to redefine its relationship with Arabs and start actively promoting the two- states solution to the Israel/Palestine problem, writes Hikmat Ajjuri
I tried in vain to find a proper word in the dictionaries to define and excuse the West's heartless silence regarding the latest crimes perpetrated by the occupying Israeli forces against my people in Gaza and the West Bank.
I tried because I know for certain that no one with any sense of humanity can sympathise with Israel in its illegal atrocities against the Palestinians and the Lebanese, whose children are still being maimed or butchered by thousands of unexploded cluster bombs dropped by the Israeli air force on Lebanon two months ago.
For the sake of argument one could find an ostensible excuse for the western democracies when Israel is provoked, however much one condemns its illegal occupation of other lands. But what excuse is there for the non-stop Israeli incursions into Gaza and the West Bank, the bombing of civilian neighbourhoods, the destruction of homes and the indiscriminate killing? Since an Israeli soldier was captured on June 25th as a bargaining chip for an exchange of prisoners, Israel has killed more than 400 Palestinians, injured more than 5,000 and detained more than 1,500.
The irony is that most western leaders are fully aware of the fact that Israel has escalated its latest aggression in response to nothing more than mounting internal pressure in Israel resulting from the humiliation of its invincible army at the hands of Hizbullah fighters, coupled with the scandals of Israeli President Katsav's sexual misconduct and the allegations of bribery and corruption against Prime Minister Olmert.
While watching the gruesome images shown on Arabic satellite channels showing the effect of the new horrifying weapon used by the Israelis against the Palestinians (Dense Inert Metal Explosive - Dime), I remembered President Bush's question: why do they hate us?
This question was raised by the US president in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. However, the question was misconceived because no nation hates another nation, and no nation can be judged by a crime committed by a bunch of terrorists from among its citizens, who stupidly decide to dictate their evil agenda to everyone, including their own people.
So I would like to put the same question to the president of the US: why does he hate us? The double standard of American foreign policy in our region is becoming increasingly difficult to stomach. The latest ugly example of this was last week's verdict of self-defence granted to the Israelis for the war crimes they have been committing against us.
Dime, the horrific new weapon which the Israelis are still testing against my people in Gaza, has caused cancer in 92 rats that were injected with fragments of it. Its immediate effect was described by the Palestinian doctors at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza as follows: "bodies arrived severely fragmented, melted and disfigured . . . Complete burns that lead to amputation, shrapnel entering the body leaving very small holes, we have never seen this before . . ." (spokesman from the Palestinian ministry of health, www.tompain.com).
Over the last two months more than 40 Palestinians in Gaza have lost limbs because of this weapon.
Of course Israel is entitled to defend itself and its citizens, yet its state terrorism and territorial expansionism are indefensible. Dr Oren Ben Dor, an Israeli academic who teaches at Southampton University, asks in a piece published in the London Independent on July 27th: "What exactly is being defended by the violence in Gaza and Lebanon? Is it the citizens of Israel or the nature of the Israeli state? I suggest the latter."
In the same context Steve Shalom, who teaches political science at William Paterson University in New Jersey, says: "The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal and unjust and Israel cannot claim self-defence when Palestinians struggle by legitimate means to end the occupation. The proper Israeli response to such Palestinian actions is not self-defence but full withdrawal from the occupied territories."
Furthermore Israeli foreign minister Livni was clearly aware of the nature of her state when she told Israeli TV Channel 10: "If harming civilians is a measure of terrorism then Israel is a terror state."
In addition to being a member state of the UN, Israel is a de facto Middle Eastern state. All it needs for its safety and security is regional acceptance. Such acceptance was initiated by Yasser Arafat in his speech to the UN General Assembly in 1974: "Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."
This speech was further developed by the PLO declaration (November 15th, 1988) of a two-state solution based on Security Council resolutions 242 and 338. This acceptance expanded to involve the whole region when the Saudi initiative was endorsed by all Arabs at their summit in Beirut in March 2003.
As a guardian of the world's safety and security, America must end the chapter of hatred between itself and the Arabs and Muslims by realising its president's vision of two states in the Holy Land, in which event such hatred will quickly be replaced by friendship and co-operation.
This approach is more efficient and less expensive in money and lives (including American lives) than plans for another war against Iran and/or Syria.
So-called Islamic terrorism never existed before Israel occupied the third-holiest place (the Noble Sanctuary in Jerusalem) for the world's 1.5 billion Muslims. After all, we in the region in particular and the world in general need America as much as America needs us.
Hikmat Ajjuri is the delegate general of Palestine in Ireland