http://www.bigeye.com/072300.htm
Camp David II: World's Most Expensive Kabuki Show
By Eric Margolis, July 23, 2000
WASHINGTON - Last week's supposed cliffhanger negotiations at Camp
David between Israel and the Palestinians remind this old, cynical
Mideast hand of Japan's highly stylized kabuki drama. Lots of
yelling, arm-waving and theatrics, but a predictable outcome. Only
the cost of Camp David II remains unknown. American taxpayers
should pray Clinton's last show flops.
The two main issues confronting Israel and Palestine - to use the
name of the new state that will inevitably come into being - are
Jerusalem and Arab refugees. Neither is likely to be resolved at
Camp David II. At best, these two extraordinarily difficult issues
will be finessed, deferred, or paper-over with sham compromises.
Israel vows it will never give back the Old City of Jerusalem,
which it conquered in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Palestinians, the
1.2 billion-strong Muslim world, the Vatican, Europe, and the UN
insist the Old City return to Muslim-Christian rule as capital of
Palestine. Pope John Paul II reiterated this point over the
weekend, calling for the internationalization of the holy city.
Israel refuses any right of return to Palestinian refugees
expelled from their homes in 1948 and 1967, though it welcomed one
million Russians and still keeps its doors open for new
immigrants. The original Palestinian refugees and their
descendants now total nearly 4 million. Israel says it will never
force 140,000 Jewish settlers on the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan to
leave.
End of story? Not necessarily. The president of the United States
has the power to break this impasse. In 1956, Israel, in collusion
with France and Britain, invaded Egypt and seized Sinai. When
Israel refused to withdraw at war's end, President Dwight
Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles ordered
Israel to vacate Sinai or face cut-off of all US aid and an end to
the tax-deductible status of contributions to Israel. Israel
vacated Sinai.
What the Palestinians and Jews needs right now is a strong,
courageous American president who will force Israel into the
necessary concession it cannot now make: granting some form of
tangible and/or shared sovereignty over the Old City to
Palestinian Muslims and Christians.
Without a fair deal over Jerusalem, and at least some Palestinian
refugees returned to Israel, there will be no permanent Mideast
peace. Israel's embattled PM Ehud Barak may want to do just this,
but his coalition is near collapse. Israel's powerful right,
backed by hard-line Zionists in the US and Britain, refuses to
concede an inch and is busy undermining Barak with hysterical and
preposterous claims that Israel's very existence is in peril.
He who pays the piper should call the tune. Israel has received
$100 billion in aid from the US since 1948. Every year, US
taxpayers give Israel $5 billion in open and hidden aid. Egypt is
paid $2 billion annually not to confront Israel. Half of all US
foreign aid goes to Israel and Egypt. Israel's military is
dependant on US equipment and technology. Only the oft-used US
veto prevents Israel from facing UN sanctions over its refusal to
withdraw form the West Bank and the Old City.
Now should be the time for Washington to press Israel to accept a
deal that would be good for Jews, Arabs and US Mideast interests.
Instead, what we have is a flabby Bill Clinton who is thinking
more about November elections, Democratic campaign financing, and
his next career move to Hollywood than America's strategic
position.
There will be no real pressure on Israel to compromise. Every
senior position in the State Department and National Security
Council responsible for Mideast policy has been filled with strong
American supporters of Israel who are virtually part of Israel's
political establishment.
The three senior American diplomats at Camp David II have all been
involved with the US Israel lobby; two were Israeli residents.
It's as if the entire US delegation at American-brokered talks on
northern Ireland were militant Catholic-Americans and IRA backers.
The powerful Israel lobby has warned Congress, `no pressure on
Israel.' Politicians recall that President George Bush's attempts
to press Israel into halting settlements brought charges of
`anti-semitism' that contributed to his failure to get re-elected
and to Clinton's upset victory.
The only `pressure' the US will exert is offering Israel more
money. Camp David I has cost US taxpayers $160 billion - the price
of nine complete aircraft carrier battle groups. The recent, never
fully implemented Wye River agreements engineered by Clinton cost
taxpayers nearly $2 billion.
Israel is reportedly asking Washington for US $15-27 billion to
relocate military facilities from the occupied territories, and
another $30-40 billion to make its armed forces as technologically
advanced as those of the US, including full integration into US
space and intelligence systems. Plus another $2 billion more for
missile defense on top of $1.5 billion already received from the
US.
The US and Europe provide Palestine's entire $360 million annual
budget. Yasser Arafat now seeks $40 billion compensation - not
from Israel, but the US!- for the nearly 4 million Palestinian
refugees and their confiscated property. Even if allocated, much
of this money would likely end up in the pockets of PLO bigwigs,
not the refugees.
In short, American taxpayers are being asked to again massively
bribe their squabbling clients into pretending to cooperate. Camp
David II could end up costing $100 billion - just for openers.
Those crafty Mideasterners certainly know how to shake down Uncle
Sam in an election year.
Copyright 2000, Eric S. Margolis.
