Post by Moses on Jan 22, 2005 7:16:26 GMT -5
Writes Jérôme Bourdon in Le Monde: "With regard to the Middle East, the international press - and, to a lesser extent, the Israeli press - talk a lot about 'hope.' It is, for sure, perhaps, 'fragile,' or 'measured;' but we could once again be at the threshold of a peace process in the Middle East: Israel is 'disengaging' from Gaza; consequently Ariel Sharon would be ready to make concessions. A new leader, with a more 'western' style, Abu Mazen, also talks about resumption of negotiations. The hope, however, is a media artifact. It is purely a matter of publicity, images, rhetoric in the headlines. What a beautiful headline hope makes after so much blood and tears! But the basic facts have not changed. The obstacles to a resumption of the peace process remain the same, exactly the same. Ariel Sharon is disengaging from Gaza, they say. First of all, nothing has happened, we're still talking about it only - and even his supporters acknowledge that Ariel Sharon has been able to say everything as well as its opposite in the course of his career. On the West Bank, notably in the space between the 'wall' - that it should be called a 'fence' changes nothing of its reality - and the Green Line [the border before June 6, 1967], building continues with relocated bulldozers. Disengagement from Gaza is not a first step for Ariel Sharon, but a concession, more, by the way, to his American ally than to the Israeli opposition. It is typical of an Israeli tradition whereby American and domestic policies explain more about decisions taken vis-à-vis the Palestinians than does any real taking into account of Palestinian reality." -- aaiusa.org