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 Otherwise, he would have withdrawn from the government," Kvanmo said.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.