Forcefeeding Peace to the Middle East
By Eric Margolis
10/25/1998
WASHINGTON DC - Watching the Israeli-Palestinian summit in
nearby Wye, Maryland last week left me feeling exhausted,
depressed, and even more cynical than ever.
For Clinton, the talks were his usual political theater
designed to boost Democratic fortunes in next month's
elections and convince Americans he is an effective foreign
policy president, which he is not. Call this made-for-TV
diplomacy, `Wag the Camel.'
Sources say Clinton, desperate for a televised peace
ceremony, offered both sides large, secret financial
inducements to make an on-camera deal that, no matter how
insubstantial, would convince credulous viewers the
president had `forged peace in the Mideast.'
How much baksheesh did Clinton have to dish out? President
Jimmy Carter's much ballyhooed Camp David agreement was the
biggest bribe in history. Israel got US $3 billion and Egypt
$800 million - annually. Additional sums were covertly paid
to Sadat and his cronies. Israel got lots of secret
goodies.
This latest performance of Arab-Israeli kabuki - every bit
as artificial and stylized as the ancient Japanese drama -
once again showed how weak the world's only super power has
become under Clinton's feeble leadership.
Three weeks ago, Clinton backed down in the face of new
North Korean nuclear-armed missiles that can hit US bases in
Japan and Okinawa. He actually offered the blackmailing,
outlaw regime in Pyongyang hundreds of millions more to be
good.
Two weeks ago came the Kosova fiasco. Clinton backed away
from his threats to halt Serb barbarism by military force,
and ended up making an under-the-table deal with Serb war
criminal Milosevic.
Last week, the Mideast. Israel and the Palestinians were
bitterly deadlocked over such disputes as extradition of
suspects, and some barren land, that are trivial compared
to the titanic problems yet to be resolved: Palestinian
statehood, borders, scarce water resources, Jerusalem, the
right of return of 3 million homeless Palestinians.
American taxpayers provide most of the Palestinian
Authority's $200 million budget, and $5 billion or so to
Israel annually - $3 billion officially, and $2 billion in
hidden aid, not including the cost to the Treasury of about
$2 billion in tax-deductible private contributions to
Israel. Now, if Washington can't influence these two
clients, who can? Washington pays the piper, but can't call
the tune.
Remember, the US is no mere bystander at the talks. The US
guaranteed the 1993 Oslo Agreements. But the Clinton
Administration proved humiliating impotent when it came to
pressing the Netanyahu government into accepting a deal
signed by its predecessor. Pressure from the Jewish lobby,
and interference by Senate Republicans, aborted White House
attempts to press Israel into a more flexible position.
The surprise visit to the summit of Jordan's ailing King
Hussein only underlined the fact that America's imperial
architecture in the Mideast is built on a house of sand.
Hussein suffers from a grave cancer and is on his last legs.
The Jordanian monarch has long been a close, though
discreet, ally of Israel, as well as beneficiary of covert
American funding for 40 years. When Hussein goes, Jordan's
Palestinian majority - which is denied any political voice -
may try to again oust the unloved Hashemite dynasty.
Yasser Arafat suffers from advancing Parkinson's disease.
Like many other Arab leaders, he also has hypertension,
digestive problems and nerve disorders. Without Arafat,
Palestinians will very probably split into feuding factions.
Saudi King Fahad is gravely ill with chronic heart and
circulatory problems. A battle for succession between
various rival clans within the Saudi royal family could
produce dangerous instability in the oil kingdom.
America's chief North African ally, Morocco's King Hassan,
is receiving secret medical treatments. Syria's dour leader,
President Hafez Asad, has serious circulatory and, likely,
liver problems. Holding office in the Mideast is not good
for the health. Most Arab leaders live on a lethal diet of
syrup-sweet coffee, cigarettes, fatty food, candy, fear and
adrenalin. Egypt's strongman, Gen. Husni Mubarak, is an
exception. He looks in good shape, though Nasser did, too,
until he suddenly died from heart failure - or, it is
whispered, poison.
Ironically, America's two bêtes noires, Iraq's Saddam
Hussein and Libya's Muammar Khadaffi, seem as fit as
fiddles, unless, of course, they succumb to CIA-induced lead
poisoning. Iran's leaders, who eat a lot of fruit and
yogurt, are the picture of health.
Personality-based policies are inherently unstable. It's
fine to make deals between Arafat and Netanyahu, but if the
majority of Palestinians and Israelis don't go along, the
deals may not outlast the men who made them. Given the deep
ill will and mistrust shown by both sides in Washington this
past week, the future looks bleak.
Half of Israelis think a new interim peace agreement will
give them less, not more security, an unease rejectionists
from Hamas will try to accentuate with grenade and bomb
attacks.
Two thirds of Palestinians believe Israel reneged on the
Oslo Agreement and will keep them prisoners in heavily
guarded, South African style bantustans, or tribal reserves.
Increasing numbers blame Arafat for their plight and are
turning to the radicals of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The Wye summit looked more like two scorpions trapped in a
bottle than the dawn of an new era of Mideast peace.
Copyright: Eric Margolis, 1998
