(Al-Ahram-Egypt) - Graham Usher Israel's decision to "remove" Yasser Arafat has brought into clear outline the ground-rules for any future American involvement in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. This is no longer predicated on land for peace or even "engagement" for a PA enlistment in America's "global war against terrorism." It is regime change, a condition implicit in the roadmap, but now spelled out with brutal clarity. For now, America is not interested in the Palestinian regime change being engineered through preemptive strikes or "preventive wars," including any action by Israel to dispatch Arafat into exile or worse. The preferred method is still isolation from without combined with "reform" from within. On Monday, Secretary of State Colin Powell said there were three conditions the new PA premier, Ahmed Qurei, had to fulfill to win American attention: "If [his government] does not have political authority independent from the machinations of Yasser Arafat, and if all the security forces are not consolidated under the new prime minister, and if that prime minister is not committed to ending terrorism...then we are not going to move forward on the roadmap."
2003-09-26 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive