Sharon spells chaos

Egypt's good offices were called upon this week to restore calm between the Palestinians and Israelis, but the attempt left Cairo and the Arabs between a rock and a hard place. Nevine Khalil and Soha Abdelaty report
In a mission to save what is left of a tattered peace process, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher was dispatched to Israel on Thursday to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defence Minister Binyamin Eliezer. He told Israeli policy- makers that current conditions were explosive, the cycle of violence must stop and talks re-launched. After listening attentively, Sharon's succinct response hours after Maher left on Friday was to bomb Palestinian police headquarters in Gaza, indicating that Israel's government will not listen to anyone's advice.
President Hosni Mubarak concluded on Sunday that as long as Sharon remains in power, the Israeli people will not be guaranteed peace or security because their leader does not want peace and listens to no one, not even Israel's chief backer in the region -- the US. " [US President George W] Bush told me he will speak personally to Sharon, but since when do the Israelis do what the Americans ask," Mubarak told reporters. Cairo had insisted that US special envoy to the Middle East Anthony Zinni remain in the region despite the escalation of violence because if anyone was capable of changing Sharon's mind, it would be the Americans.
During several telephone conversations between Mubarak and Bush at the beginning of the week, Washington said it valued Egypt's initiative of sending Maher for talks with top Israeli officials. US gratitude was also shown in current talks between Cairo and Washington on ways to speed up economic aid to Egypt, which is expecting $1 billion in deferred US aid.
Mubarak told journalists on the way back from a brief visit to Syria on Sunday that Maher was dispatched to Israel after "several requests" by world leaders and officials for Egypt to warm relations with Israel. "They said that if we made contact with Sharon, this would encourage his government to change its [hard-line] policies," said Mubarak. "I think now it's obvious to everyone that Egypt did its best to stem the bloodshed."
Mubarak explained that the message urged Sharon to implement the Mitchell recommendations and abide by the Tenet plan. "But Sharon had nothing new to offer, except that he was willing to accept the presence of a limited number of US observers," noted Mubarak.
Sharon's intransigence is not all Arab capitals are concerned about.
As the first phase of the US-led war against terror is coming to a close, there is concern about how the second phase will be implemented, and whether or not it will include Arab targets. On a parallel track, recent setbacks in the peace process and a string of suicide bombings have weakened the Arabs' bargaining powers.
According to political analyst Gamil Mattar, the US is embarking on an all- out economic, social and cultural war against selected Middle East countries, including Iraq, Yemen, Sudan and Somalia. Washington will also need Israel to assist it in dealing with Palestinian militant groups -- a plan which Arab countries cannot scuttle.
"Arab countries fear that the US will wage war against a number of their neighbours," Mattar explains, adding that since Arab capitals cannot alter the US intent to expand its war campaign, they can only insist that Washington guarantee progress in the peace process. "The Arabs are in a weak position," noted Mattar. "They cannot convene an Arab summit, and when they do, Arafat cannot be present. And when one is finally convened, what will they say? They will ask America to intervene to ask Sharon to stop his actions, that's all they can do," said Mattar. To which, he goes on, the Americans will respond by saying that they will act on the peace process, but should be left alone in expanding their war on terrorism. "If the Arabs don't comply, Sharon will continue to do as he wishes," concluded Mattar.
A case in point is that when Sharon claimed "self-defence" against Palestinian terrorism, the US sang the same tune. "Mr Sharon is a freely elected leader of a democratic nation, and he will respond in a way that he thinks is appropriate," US Secretary of State Colin Powell told CNN last week. Mattar believes that the US has given Israel a green light because Tel Aviv now has a role to play in the second phase of the war against terror by inflaming the region.
Although Sharon reassured Maher that "harming" Arafat or removing him from power were not on Tel Aviv's agenda, Cairo insists that Sharon's campaign against Palestinian Authority (PA) symbols and targets aims to "tie the hands of the PA and topple Arafat," as Mubarak's chief political adviser Osama El-Baz put it. He described Israel's policies as "state terrorism" and "100 per cent exaggerated use of force."
Admitting there were "mistakes" on the part of the Palestinians, Mubarak said that asking Arafat to control and end all the violence was "near impossible." He noted that Arafat couldn't possibly control the violence "when his security forces and personnel are being targeted and killed [by Israel]."
However, the US insists that Arafat is capable of controlling the situation. According to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, the only way to move forward is for Arafat to uproot terrorism. "We have what confirms that Arafat is capable of control, we want a 100 per cent effort," she said in an interview with Al-Ahram newspaper this week. She was also adamant that security conditions must improve before Israel can end the blockade on the Palestinian territories.
Instead of Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the dire condition of the peace process, the presidents of two of the region's heavyweights met for talks. Mubarak travelled to Damascus for a few hours to consult with President Bashar Al-Assad on the next Arab move, especially after the Arab League meeting of foreign ministers was cancelled, allegedly due to "procedural mistakes."
The bilateral summit aimed to mold a strong and united Arab stand at this sensitive time in regional politics. There is concern in Arab circles about Israel's continued aggression and the fact that there is neither an apparent solution in sight nor a plan to stop Israel in its tracks. Mubarak and Al-Assad discussed an Arab and Islamic role in confronting Israel's hard-line and violent policies, in coordination with American, European, UN and Russian efforts. They called on all powers "to shoulder their responsibility to [save] the Palestinians," and assigned their foreign ministers -- who were to attend Monday's Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) conference -- to forge resolutions that "reflect the rejection of Israel's aggression and support for the struggle of the Palestinians."
In a joint statement at the end of the visit, Mubarak and Al-Assad condemned Israel's attempts to mix legitimate armed struggle with terrorism, saying that the "Palestinian people are defending their land and legitimate rights."
Washington's advice, expressed by Rice, is that leaders in the region and the world over must "open their eyes and concentrate on the goal of achieving peace." The Arabs are saying the same thing, but Sharon has tuned out. "There is a general sense of frustration towards [Sharon's] government and its actions," concluded Mubarak. "There may be a miracle and the Americans may manage to make progress. But from what I see, there is no hope as long as Sharon continues his current policies."
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