Palestine’s Untenable Situation
Israel Seeks the Annihilation of the Palestinians
‘62,400’ Already Dead
By Firas Al-Atraqchi
The killing of Hamas activist Mohammad (Ahmad) Selmi during clashes with Palestinian security forces and the attempted
house arrest of Hamas’ spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin have brought the situation in Israel and the Occupied
Territories to the edge of an abyss.
In the past 24-hours, independent Palestinian sources have confirmed CNN and BBC reports that there has been sporadic
resistance to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s decree that Yassin be put under house arrest. This is not the first
time that Arafat’s security forces have met resistance, but the recent wave of popular support for Hamas and Islamic
Jihad in the face of resounding corruption charges against Arafat’s administration may indicate that his control is
waning.
In dispatching Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher to Israel for a hastily arranged meeting with the Israelis,
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is signalling that the situation has become untenable. So untenable, in fact, that
Mubarak has reneged on a policy of not sending his seasoned diplomats to negotiate with Israeli PM Ariel Sharon. Less
than three months ago, Mubarak said he did not believe that Sharon had the chutzpah to sue for peace. The situation on
the ground, however, may have forced both leaders’ hands. The BBC reported Wednesday that Sharon had sent his envoys to
Egypt on a “secret mission”.
Secret missions aside, it is no secret that the occupied people of Palestine are under extreme pressure. According to an
Israeli official quoted anonymously in the Jerusalem Post (Peres tells Arafat: Your fate is in your hands, Dec. 6, 2001)
“if Arafat has not begun arresting those on the list of 36, then we will attack all those we feel are perpetuating
terror, including the security groups close to Arafat”. The number 36 refers to a list of militants whom Israel would
like to see arrested or liquidated. “All those we feel are pepetuating terror,” seems to indicate the Palestinians as a
whole.
However, this fell far short of Israel’s demands. Another unnamed Israeli official told Agence France Presse that
Arafat’s efforts to date were not impressive and proved only a five percent effort to deal with Palestinian radicals.
Across the Atlantic, the House of Representatives urged President George W. Bush to suspend relations with Arafat if he
does not immediately destroy “his terrorist infrastructure”. This has left many Middle east experts baffled at the
mind-boggling muddling of the Israeli-Palestinian crises in the past 14 months and the U.S. indecision towards a
hands-off policy in the region.
However, Palestinian sources have acknowledged that recent statements made by EU delgates that Europe supports the
Palestinian leader's peace efforts and does not consider him a supporter of terrorism encouraged Arafat.
Words, like Monopoly money, don’t account for much on the ground. Any moribound student of physics knows that you can
only turn the pressure and heat on so much before the pressure cooker explodes in the lab and takes half the building
with it. Nothing can describe the Middle East situation better.
In a considerable slap in the face of Egyptian diplomacy, Israeli F-16s bombed Arafat’s main police station hours after
Maher left Israel and a short time before U.S.-sponsored security talks were scheduled to resume between the
Palestinians and Israelis.
Not surprising. Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit told reporters Friday that ``During my telephone conversation the
other day with Prime Minister Sharon, it became very clear that Israel was inclined toward war”.
This would please many columnists state-side. William Buckley defends Israeli attacks by stating that “the three
assaults on Israel by Hamas resulted in 25 deaths. Gen. Sharon did the quick arithmetic and told the world that in U.S.
terms, this was the equivalent of 2,000 deaths.” Buckley should also do the math for the Palestinian casualties in the
past 14 months. More than 780 Palestinian deaths would translate in 62,400 by the same logic.
- Firas Al-Atraqchi is a Muslim Canadian journalist living on the Pacific coast.