Memo to: All Arab leaders
From: US President George W. Bush
Dear Gents: I'm sure you've seen the news that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has decided to withdraw unilaterally from most settlements in the Gaza Strip and to relocate others in the West Bank. This presents a huge opportunity and a huge risk to Israel, to the Arab world and to us. We must work to shape it right.
Let's start with the risks. Don't think I'm happy about how this Sharon plan unfolded. Think about it: Last summer, the Palestinians put forward a new prime minister and security chief, Mahmoud Abbas and Muhammad Dahlan, as moderate alternatives to Yasser Arafat -- just the kind of people I wanted to work with.
I urged Sharon to be forthcoming and try to strengthen Abbas' hand, so he would have the credibility to deal with Hamas and Arafat. Sharon gave him virtually nothing on settlements or on easing Israeli checkpoints on Palestinians. On Palestinian prisoners, Abbas asked for an Israeli commitment to release large numbers of prisoners, which would have really given Abbas street credibility. Instead, Sharon released a few hundred, none of them big-name fighters and some just criminals. So Arafat easily destroyed Abbas by portraying him as a US-Israeli stooge.
Now fast forward. The other day Sharon did a prisoner exchange with the Lebanese Islamist terrorist group Hezbollah, which advocates wiping Israel off the map. Sharon gave it 400 Palestinian prisoners and 23 Lebanese -- in return for one live Israeli and three dead bodies. The release made Hezbollah the hero of the Arab street. A few days later, Sharon announced his plan for unilaterally pulling out of Gaza -- a huge boost for the Hamas Islamist terrorist group, which will get credit for driving Israel out, in exchange for nothing.
Imagine if last summer Sharon had come to me and said: "President Bush, I'm ready to tell the world that in response to America's urging, I will give Abbas the Gaza Strip, get out of almost all the settlements there and toss in hundreds of really high-value Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners. In return, I expect Abbas to crack down on Hamas and maintain security in Gaza. This will be a test: Gaza first. If the Palestinian moderates prove they can control it, then we'll talk about the West Bank. If they can't, forget about it."
Had Sharon done that, he would have given a huge boost to US credibility in the Arab-Muslim world, just when we needed it most, and a huge boost to the Palestinian moderates. Instead, Sharon strengthened Hezbollah and Hamas. As Israel's top military analyst, Zeev Schiff, wrote in Haaretz: "If immediately on the appointment of Mahmoud Abbas as the first Palestinian prime minister ... Sharon had announced a decision in principle to evacuate most of the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, and if at the same time he had released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners -- [as he did] under pressure from Hezbollah -- and if he had called for the resumption of talks, it is reasonable to assume the peace process would be looking very different now."
So, now I come to you Arab leaders. Guys, Sharon isn't the only one who didn't lift a finger to help Abbas and the Palestinian moderates. You Arabs did nothing. But in truth, so did I. So here's what I propose to make amends: You are holding an Arab summit this March. I want you guys to invite Sharon and me to attend.
Yes, you heard me. And I want you to present Sharon, face to face, with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's peace plan, which you've already adopted as an Arab League initiative: full normalization with Israel in return for full withdrawal from the territories.
I'm tired of you guys telling me what I have to do. If you're not ready to present your own peace plan directly to an Israeli prime minister -- which would electrify the whole process -- then you're just frauds and I'm not going to waste time with you. But if you present your proposal -- which is the only way to activate the Israeli public and redirect the Sharon initiative onto a track that will boost all the moderates and the US' standing -- then I'll put the full weight of the US government behind it.
It's put-up or shut-up time, boys. Sharon-the-bulldozer is on the move. Either you act to redirect him, or we all get rolled.
Yesterday’s recall and referendum votes garnered mixed results for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). All seven of the KMT lawmakers up for a recall survived the vote, and by a convincing margin of, on average, 35 percent agreeing versus 65 percent disagreeing. However, the referendum sponsored by the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on restarting the operation of the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County failed. Despite three times more “yes” votes than “no,” voter turnout fell short of the threshold. The nation needs energy stability, especially with the complex international security situation and significant challenges regarding
Most countries are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with condemnations of militarism and imperialism, and commemoration of the global catastrophe wrought by the war. On the other hand, China is to hold a military parade. According to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, Beijing is conducting the military parade in Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3 to “mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.” However, during World War II, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had not yet been established. It
There is an old saying that if there is blood in the water, the sharks will come. In Taiwan’s case, that shark is China, circling, waiting for any sign of weakness to strike. Many thought the failed recall effort was that blood in the water, a signal for Beijing to press harder, but Taiwan’s democracy has just proven that China is mistaken. The recent recall campaign against 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, many with openly pro-Beijing leanings, failed at the ballot box. While the challenge targeted opposition lawmakers rather than President William Lai (賴清德) himself, it became an indirect
A recent critique of former British prime minister Boris Johnson’s speech in Taiwan (“Invite ‘will-bes,’ not has-beens,” by Sasha B. Chhabra, Aug. 12, page 8) seriously misinterpreted his remarks, twisting them to fit a preconceived narrative. As a Taiwanese who witnessed his political rise and fall firsthand while living in the UK and was present for his speech in Taipei, I have a unique vantage point from which to say I think the critiques of his visit deliberately misinterpreted his words. By dwelling on his personal controversies, they obscured the real substance of his message. A clarification is needed to
RSS