Colin Powell's Mission

Colin Powell's Mission:

A Surrender to the Zionist Hegemony over the US Foreign Policy

By Hassan A. El-Najjar

4/18/02

The US Secretary of State came back from his mission to the Middle East with good news and great achievements for Israel and its Zionist supporters. He blamed the Palestinian Authority and its leaders and praised the Israeli government. He did not get the Israeli occupation forces out of the Palestinian areas. Israelis even did not agree to stop their attacks and arrests of Palestinians. Moreover, he never mentioned the Israeli war crimes and massacres, particularly in Jenin refugee camp and Nablus. However, he did not miss the opportunity to condemn the Jerusalem suicide bombing. He even demanded that Arafat condemns it in Arabic before their scheduled meeting could take place. The Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian occupied areas was a trick, as Israeli forces returned to the same areas, or were positioned around these areas. Further, while he required the Palestinian leaders to condemn "terrorism," implying that Palestinian resistance of the Israeli occupation is terrorism, he never countrerbalanced that on the Israeli side. He never mentioned, denounced, or asked the Israeli government to denounce the Israeli war crimes and massacres in Jenin and Nablus. He also took the Israeli side in keeping the siege around President Arafat's office and around the Church of the Nativity. Further, instead of asking Israelis to end their occupation and to allow the establishment of the Palestinian state, in implementation of the UN resolution 1402, he accepter the Sharon ploy of an international conference.

To make a long story short, Colin Powell's mission was nothing but a surrender to the Zionist hegemony over the US foreign policy. All President Bush's demands that Israel must withdraw are forgotten. Powell's own statements about the necessity of a two-path process, security and political, are also forgotten. He adopted all Israeli positions. He was unfriendly to the Palestinian people and their cause. In brief, his behavior makes you wonder: Was he acting as the US Secretary of State, or as Israel's Foreign Minister?

Dr. Hassan A. El-Najjar is the Editor of www.aljazeerah.info and author of "The Gulf War: Overreaction & Excessiveness." (2001).