The Powell doctrine

Colin Powell's speech on US policy in the region left Israel relieved and the Palestinians apprehensive, writes Graham Usher from Jerusalem
Months in the making -- and 35 drafts in the revision -- on Monday finally made the "speech" outlining American policy in the Middle East and "the central diplomatic challenge" of obtaining "a just and lasting peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours."
For Palestinians -- as with the 1991 Madrid Conference, whose "spirit we try to capture" -- this boils down to a trade: end the Intifada in return for an American promise that Israel's 34-year occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem will, some day, "end".
Their ill-disguised discomfort was due to the concrete demands Powell made on them to bring about the first compared to the vagueness he wanted from Israel to move to the second.
This disparity enabled Ariel Sharon to breathe easily and applaud the "constructive approach" laid out by Powell. It caused Yasser Arafat to breathe less easily, even though he welcomed the speech, largely because by his lights some "active American engagement" in the conflict is better than zero. The Palestinian leadership said the speech was "a good base to end the violence and resume negotiations toward a comprehensive solution to the Palestinian and Arab-Israeli conflict."
There were good things in the Powell doctrine, aside from the thrice- mentioned word "occupation", a rarity in recent years of American peacemaking. Powell called on Israel to lift the closures on Palestinian lands, halt settlement activity and withdraw a militarised reality where "too many innocent Palestinians, including children, have been killed and wounded." All this, he said, "must stop."
He reassured the Arabs his vision of a "viable Palestinian state" ("alongside Israel, not in place of Israel") remains grounded on UN resolutions 242 and 338 and "rooted in the concept of land for peace".
But the only engagement Palestinians received was a pledge to dispatch to the region Assistant Secretary of State William Burns and new envoy Anthony Zinni with the "immediate mission" of getting "a cease-fire in place." It was pretty clear whom Powell believed had prime responsibility for making the cease-fire stick.
"The Palestinian leadership must make a 100 per cent effort to end violence and terror. There must be real results, not just words and declarations. Terrorists must be stopped before they act. The Palestinian leadership must arrest, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of terrorist acts," said Powell.
As for the Intifada, this "is now mired in the quicksand of self- defeating violence and terror directed against Israel." This too "must stop and stop now."
This is a tough call for the leadership to make, even if there are many among its ranks who would quietly aver with Powell's assessment. They do not lead the Intiafada. And the young fighters who do are not going to trade their revolt for a cease-fire with Sharon and the nebulous hope that then "other things can start to happen."
Other things are happening now to make that trade forlorn. Last week, the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Force arrested Mohamed Tawalbe, an Islamic Jihad leader in Jenin wanted for planning suicide operations in Israel. Over 2,000 Palestinians rallied to his defence, a grenade was thrown at a PS office in the city and Jihad released a leaflet naming the officers who detained him as "collaborators with the Zionist enemy."
Tawalbe has since gone on a hunger strike in a PA jail in Nablus, joined by Hamas prisoners in Ramallah and Popular Front prisoners in Gaza.
On Tuesday, Israeli tanks and bulldozers again swept into Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Four Palestinians were wounded, 11 homes were damaged and 25 families were made homeless. The cross- factional Popular Resistance Committees swore the Intifada would continue "whatever the international pressure on Arafat." The next night mortars were pitched into Gaza's Gush Qatif settlement bloc.
And on Tuesday again Israel's Defence Ministry said it was replacing 12 mobile homes in Hebron's tiny Tel Rumeida settlement with permanent structures, as a "security issue, not a political issue." This was 12 hours after Powell described Israel's ongoing settlement construction as "preempting and prejudging the outcome of negotiations and ... crippling chances for real peace and security."
Faced with these realities Arafat can no more "stop" the Intifada than roll back the tide with a stick. For that to happen he is going to need a little less American engagement with the cease- fire and a lot more with an occupation that "must end."
Recommend this page
Related stories:
The word is occupation
Checkpoint in Tulkarm
Robbed and humiliated
Sticks and stones
Israel's Ramadan gift
Conditions for war
Washington reconsiders
'A step in the right direction'
Waiting for the man 15 - 21 November 2001
No let-up in Mideast violence 15 - 21 November 2001
See Intifada: year one 27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001
Intifada in focus
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
Send a letter to the Editor