Colin Powell's 'mission impossible'

Colin Powell's 'mission impossible'

Riza Sihbudi
Indonesian Institute
of Sciences (LIPI)
Indonesian Society for
Middle East Studies (ISMES)
Jakarta

Colin Powell, the United States State Secretary, is in the
Middle East in an effort to ease tensions in the region,
following the brutal aggression of Israeli soldiers in Palestine.
On March 29, Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, ordered his
soldiers to lay siege on the headquarters of the Palestinian
President, Yasser Arafat, in Ramallah city in the West Bank,
marking the climax of Israeli aggression in Palestine since
September 2000.

Powell's trip this time follows U.S. President George W.
Bush's latest address and three resolutions issued by the United
Nations Security Council, essentially calling for the withdrawal
of Israeli troops from Palestinian territories, effecting a
cease-fire between Palestinian and Israeli soldiers and
encouraging the two parties to return to the negotiating table.

The U.S. first sent special envoy Anthony Zinni to meet
President Arafat. Zinni is the first high-ranking foreign
official to be received by Arafat since the Palestinian leader
was confined to his compound by Israeli forces. Will Powell
succeed?

The conflict between Arabs/Palestinians and Israelis seems to
be an integral part of Middle Eastern politics, encompassing all
sorts of dimensions -- religious and ideological, geopolitical,
societal and economic.

In the modern history of the Arabs, none of the Arab countries
have ever defeated Israel. Arab history reveals that this failure
mostly is largely attributable to their inability to take a
united stand. They have resolved to defend the Palestinian
nation's struggle for independence but they have never been in
full agreement about how to carry out this resolve. In the wars
between Arab nations and Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982
and at present, there were at most only four of some 20 Arab
countries involved (some invariably) in the battles, namely
Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

Ironically "fierce-sounding" Arab countries like Libya and
Iraq have never been engaged in any battles of Arab nations
against Israel. Neither have oil-rich Arab monarchies in the Gulf
such as Saudi Arabia and the other members of the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC). They have only given moral and
financial support, the latter incomparable with their huge oil
revenue.

A famous Palestinian Christian intellectual, Edward W. Said,
once voiced his rejection of the U.S.-sponsored peace treaty
formula called the Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles
on Interim Self-Government Arrangements (DOP). For Said, DOP was
merely a symbol.

For example DOP states that Israel still enjoys sovereignty
over water resources, security, foreign relations, and its right
to veto all things in Palestine.

The issues of the status of Jerusalem city and Jewish
settlements are still in the hands of Israel. Sadly, as Said
wrote, all data, documents, figures and maps used in the
negotiations held from Oslo in Norway to Cairo in Egypt, were
drafted by Israel. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)
was not able to forward a single piece of information that
differed from Israeli sources. "(This) relates to our land and
our nation, Palestine," Said wrote.

Said quoted a Jewish general who had said that Israel still
held the real power in the West Bank and Gaza Strip regions. So,
what will Israel concede to Palestine? The general said, "The
right to give services to the inhabitants." The statement seemed
to suggest, "OK, now the Palestinians are the leaders but we are
the true rulers".

Since the signing of Oslo I treaty on Sept. 13, 1993 up to
Oslo II (on Sept. 28 1995), which allowed broader autonomy for
Palestine to include most of the territory in the West Bank,
Palestine has not been able to do much.

Said wrote that Arafat failed to clear the roads in Gaza but
could establish five intelligence units assigned with the main
job of spying on one another. Said was a member of the
Palestinian National Council (PNC) -- a parliament of sorts in
exile -- between 1977 and 1991, and a member of the Palestinian
negotiating team in the 1991 Madrid Conference.

Palestine's weak position, as portrayed above, allowed Israel
to freely dishonor all U.S. sponsored treaties. Israel freely
continues to launch aggressive attacks and has seized again areas
in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which, based on the DOP,
should have been returned to the Palestinians.

Therefore, it is very likely that the mission State Secretary
Powell leads this time will not be fruitful, especially if the
U.S. continues to practice its double standards in the region and
blocks the establishment of an independent and sovereign
Palestinian state. The latter is the key to the settlement of the
endless conflicts in the Middle East.