RI, terrorism: Dancing to beat of U.S. drum

RI, terrorism: Dancing to beat of U.S. drum

Santi W.E. Soekanto, Journalist, Jakarta

There are many lessons to be learned from the current Middle
East crisis and the worldwide tension it is spawning, including
the fact that one is permitted to have regrets over mistakes that
one has committed. Such as naming Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon
Peres the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Members of the Norwegian committee that awards the annual
Nobel Peace Prize told BBC News on Friday their regrets that
Peres' prize could not be recalled. "I wish it was possible that
we could recall the prize," said committee member Hanna Kvanmo
who, together with the other members, blasted Peres for his
failure to act to prevent Israel's reoccupation of Palestinian
territory and its besieging of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

"Peres is responsible, as part of the government. He has
expressed his agreement with what [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel]
Sharon is doing. Otherwise, he would have withdrawn from the
government," Kvanmo said. In addition, if Arafat were to be
killed as a result of Israeli actions these days, one Nobel
laureate might in effect be said to have killed the other,
according to committee chairman Geir Lundestad.

Those remarks could have only been uttered by a world
reputable organization because it was convinced that atrocities
and gross violations of Palestinians' rights were being committed
by, in a sense, Peres' troops. The committee's remorse could
have only been strengthened by all accounts coming from the
invaded territories, including one by an American Jewish student
of University of Minnesota, Tzaporah Ryter, who is in Ramallah.

Ryter, who has been visiting the city where she had studied
previously, said in a letter to a group known as Jews for
Justice: "We are under a terrible siege and people are being
massacred by both the Israeli army and armed militia groups of
Israeli settlers. They are shooting outside at anything that
moves. I am urgently pleading for as much outside help as
possible to help save lives here."

Despite the abundance of accounts similar to Ryter's,
President George W. Bush came out on Thursday with his Middle
East statement. He did call on Israeli forces to pull out of the
territories they have invaded, but he heaped all the blame on
Arafat and Palestinian Authority. He even maintained his
endorsement of Israeli actions as "rooting out of terrorist
nests" and that "America recognizes Israel's right to defend
itself from terror."

"Terror must be stopped. No nation can negotiate with
terrorists, for there is no way to make peace with those whose
only goal is death," Bush said. "Since Sept. 11 I've delivered
this message: Everyone must choose; you're either with the
civilized world or you're with the terrorists. All in the Middle
East also must choose, and must move decisively in word and deed
against terrorist acts."

His calls, toward the end of his message as "a committed
friend of Israel", that Israel halt incursions into Palestinian
territories have apparently gone unheeded by the friend who
continues committing atrocities.

Bush has blamed Arafat for the Netanya bombing that killed 22
innocent Jews celebrating Passover, and justified the current
Israeli incursion into the Palestinian territories. To Bush,
Israeli aggression is a self-defense against terrorism brought
about by "suicide bombers" ("martyr bombers" to Muslims). He
failed to mention that the Israeli aggression is the direct
responsibility of Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Ben Eliezer, and Shimon
Peres, while the attacks by the Palestinians are done by
individuals in despair, usually against Arafat's will.

While being very clear about punishment that befits the
Palestinian bombers, Bush has conveniently skipped the questions
about who should be arrested for the targeted killing of
countless Palestinians, who will be sent to jail for the recent
killing of more than 120 Palestinian paramedics, who will be
sentenced for the killing of more than 1,200 Palestinians and for
the collective punishment of more than 3 million civilians during
the last 18 months?

And who will face the International Tribunal for the illegal
settlement of occupied Palestinian Lands, and the disobedience of
UN decisions for more than 35 years?

And Indonesia has largely said "amen" to most of Washington's
stance on the issue. When Bush told the world to choose whether
to be with the terrorists or the U.S, we scurried to hide behind
his back and said that of course we were against the terrorists.
We became preoccupied with the drafting of the anti-terrorism
bill, and we made declarations how tough we're going to be with
the terrorists.

Politicians, religious leaders and scholars made the
appropriate noises to convince Bush that really, Indonesia is on
his side in his fight against terrorism without clarifying what
the word really means and how it has actually been abused to suit
whoever needs to use it. The list of names of Indonesian leaders
who have been anxious to sweeten up to Bush on terrorism is long.
In fact, it was only recently that Minister of Defense Matori
Abdul Djalil begged a visiting U.S. official to "please,
understand" the various challenges facing Indonesia with regard
to the campaign against terrorism.

In short, we have been dancing to the beat of the U.S. drum on
terrorism. We were so quick to condemn the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks on New York and Washington, but President Megawati
Soekarnoputri has not been as quick to condemn the Israeli
aggression and Washington's support of it. The government and the
other leaders should really take a lesson from Nobel Prize
committee -- to regret, show remorse and change course.

As do other societies, we abhor violence and terrorism. But we
need to also take it upon us to be just. Why has Bush described
Palestinians and Arafat as those on the terrorist side but failed
to say the same about Israeli troops and Sharon, Peres, and Ben
Eliezer? Most importantly, why are we only nodding to all that
Bush is saying rather than asking him why he was standing on "the
other side", namely terrorism?

Again, to be just, Indonesia should also blast the Arab states
such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt whose claims of support for the
Palestinian cause never amounted to more than lip service. Their
economic, political and diplomatic ties with Washington are so
thick they can't say no to U.S. policies on Palestine, in effect
allowing the continued humiliation of Palestine by Israel.