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Out-Zionizing the Zionists
By Omer Bin Abdullah
03/04/2001
Politics make strange bedfellows. And the strange politics of a particular co-habitant really stand out for their oddity - those of General Ariel Sharon, the Butcher of Shatilla and Sabra, and darling of Jewish and Christian fundamentalists.
Not surprisingly, the Bush Administration - overloaded with the Christian Right - is racing ahead with its pro-Zionist agenda. Grace Halsell, author of
Prophecy and Politics, deftly described the members of this cult and pointed out that the message of Christian Zionists, simply stated, is: Every act taken by Israel is orchestrated by God, and should be condoned, supported, and even praised by the rest of us.
Who are the Christian Zionists? They include fundamentalists like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and their followers.
Halsell stated that a born-again Christian can be more Israeli than an Israeli. She wrote that Christian Zionists are a dangerous and growing segment of Christians whose beliefs were popularized by the 19th-century American Cyrus Scofield when he incorporated his interpretation of certain historical events (all centering around Israel - past, present and future) into the Bible.
Scofield wrote that Christ cannot return to earth until the following events occur: the Jews must return to Palestine, gain control of Jerusalem, and rebuild a temple; and then, we all must engage in the final, great battle called Armageddon. Today, Scofield's Bible is the most popular of reference Bibles.
Estimates vary, but most students of Armageddon theology agree that as a result of these relatively recent interpretations of Biblical scripture, 10 to 40 million Americans believe that Palestine is God's chosen land for the Jews.
Halsell said, "Indeed, I hold that Christian Zionism threatens not just the lives of Palestinians and other Arabs, but the very existence of the United States. Because of the cult of Israel, we have become a nation that does not have its own Middle East policy, but the policy that the government of Israel tells us to have."
The events related to the Washington visit of General Sharon helped bring to fore some of the leading lights in the Christian Zionist clique. Among them is Secretary of State General Powell who declared, "We recognize that Israel lives in a very dangerous neighborhood, so we will work, we will look for ways to strengthen and expand our valuable strategic cooperation with Israel so that we can help preserve a qualitative military edge." In essence, by labeling the Arab world as a "very dangerous neighborhood," the General was only reaffirming the popular belief that Muslims are violent. At the same time, he reinforced the media-generated image of Tel Aviv as a paradise of peace. Thus, he was able to justify American taxpayers continuing to bankroll the Zionist war-machine. Such a move not only pleases the Zionist lobby in America but also the GOP's financial backers, the arms merchants.
Useless Exercise
In an attempt to mollify Muslim American voters, at an October summit in Egypt last year then-President Clinton got Tel Aviv and the Palestinians to agree to an investigation by a U.S.-led fact-finding committee led by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell into the six months of violence in the region. Responding to this, Sharon declared, "Agreeing to such a committee is a historic mistake because no one has the right, no one, to put Israel to a world trial."
Of course, if no one has put this murderer (Sharon) on trial, then what right would anyone have to put a nation, founded and devoted to terrorism, on trial - especially with super-Islamophobes ruling Washington, D.C.?
Sharon has practically shot down the Mitchell committee by stating, "There is no choice but to meet the committee." It would thus be futile to continue beating this dead horse as it holds no place in Bush's Middle East policy. The committee became a nonstarter once the Democrats lost the White House. It was expected that Gore would have allowed it at least enough of a leash to issue a report (which Yasser Arafat could have then hoisted as a "moral victory" of sorts).
Conniving Sidekick
Britain, although bereft of its colonial holdings, continues to suffer from the "big power" syndrome. Perhaps its illogical occupation of a seat on the U.N. Security Council bolsters its persistent effort to be regarded as a small country that, in the words of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, "punched above its weight" - that is, played a bigger role on the world stage than would be expected given its size, population, and military and economic strength. The reality is, however, that Britain's global clout depends solely on it hanging on to American coattails. It no longer has an independent foreign policy - it has been reduced to being Washington's European surrogate.
It is essential to view any British moves in this broader picture. Specifically, one needs to view with caution the Security Council resolution being pursued by Britain in collaboration with France, Ireland, and Norway asking U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to consult both sides of the conflict about ending the violence and renewing peace talks, to call on Tel Aviv to lift its blockade, and to express concern about a planned Jewish settlement expansion.
The aim was to get the resolution approved before last week's summit of the 22-member Arab League in the Jordanian capital of Amman, so that Annan, in his reelection bid, would have a fig leaf to show the summit. Although the United States has threatened to veto the resolution, Arab leaders endorsed the seemingly inconsequential resolution.
The rich leaders cannot afford to lose American props, and the poor ones cannot afford to lose their grants - Egypt gets $2 billion and Jordan $225 million a year from the U.S. to promote regional detente with Israel, which in turn gets $3 billion a year from the American taxpayer.
The Cairo Summit of January 2000 promised to provide $1 billion to the Palestinians, with the European Union (EU) promising aid as well. However, they have been given less than a quarter of the promised funds, and the EU has yet to send any. This, in the face of Tel Aviv's strangulation and freeze on funds meant for the Palestinians as agreed to at Oslo.
Despite the foregone conclusion that the Amman summit would be a bag of air, Annan let it be known that he would address the Arabs to urge them to be moderate. This was yet another buildup of General Powell's statement that Tel Aviv is surrounded by dangerous neighbors.
Muslim Americans lost when Powell became Secretary of State. It was Powell who, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made a pledge ten years ago to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC - the official Israeli lobby in the U.S.) that America would unquestionably stand by Israel. Powell was immoral then, as he is now - wedded to the twisted beliefs of Christian Zionism and more Zionist than the Zionists themselves. Powell bowed to the lowest level of morality when he parroted Zionist propaganda and declared that the United States would not "strive for some arbitrary measure of even-handedness when responsibility is not evenly shared."
Abyss of Immorality
During (and since) Sharon's visit, Bush stated his readiness to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to occupied Jerusalem, followed by General Powell repeating that the city was the capital of Israel - quickly excusing himself for slips of the tongue. Perhaps, foot-and-mouth disease is seeping into the State Department.
General Powell's excuses ring hollow in the face of evidence. Cosmetics king Ronald Lauder, president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told reporters that Powell had assured him that the State Department would examine how the U.S. Embassy in Israel can be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Perhaps, the General speaks from two mouths.
These statements by Bush and Powell, although violating U.N. resolutions, simply mirror what General Sharon has insisted. Addressing the AIPAC, Sharon declared "united Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the state of Israel," and "Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people... Only under Israeli sovereignty will Jerusalem be open to all the faiths. Jerusalem will remain united under Israeli sovereignty - forever."
Bush and Powell, in their attempts to out-Zionize the Zionists, have flung aside law, morality, and justice to echo the words and wishes of this butcher. Muslim Americans had held hopes that just as George H. Bush, Sr. had forbidden aid money to be used for settlement building, George W. Bush, Jr. would show similar foresight. However, the latter George has a holier agenda, dictated by the cult of Christian Zionism.
Thus, General Sharon, who believes in bulldozing and creating realities on the ground, is enjoying a free hand to occupy even more Muslim land and turn it into housing. While 4,000 houses and apartments are already sitting empty, Sharon has given the go-ahead for almost 4,000 new housing units to be built on the West Bank.
Settlement building not only violates international law, but it is also a permanent obstacle to true peace. The peace that Bush and Powell have in mind is a peace that excludes the Palestinians; in fact, one that is built upon the propping up of their killers and murderers. Thus, it is not surprising that Bush and Powell have publicly assured Sharon that the U.S. will not interfere while Sharon kills as many Palestinians as he desires.
Muslim Americans can only conclude that Bush, who promised to bring honor and decency back to the White House and prides himself on keeping his word, has failed miserably on all of these accounts.
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