Democratic Palestine : 22 (ص 21)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 22 (ص 21)
- المحتوى
-
The Shuttles of Murphy and Co.
The visits of US, Italian, French and Australian officials to the
Middle East, like the European tours of Jordan’s King Hussein and
Israeli Foreign Minister Peres, all converge on a single point: impos-
ing the US ‘peaceful’ settlement at the expense of the Palestinian
people’s rights and revolution. Most concretely, these shuttles have
functioned as a forum for covert Israeli-Jordanian negotiations.
Recently, some reactionary Arab
leaders ‘discovered’ that the US’s
credibility «is starting to deteriorate» as
a result of its sale of weapons to Iran
via ‘Israel’. Of course, this ‘discovery’
-that the US has no credibility at all
-was made long ago by progressive
forces all over the world. However,
Arab reaction naturally stopped short
of saying how the US’s credibility is
deteriorating, and instead returned to
business as usual.
In early January, the US sent its en-
voy, Assistant Secretary of State
Richard W. Murphy, to the Middle
East to ‘clarify’ and polish its image in
the Arab world, that is, for Arab reac-
tion. State Department officials
acknowledged that Murphy’s Mideast
trip aimed at repolishing America’s
image. As was scheduled and an-
nounced, Murphy’s shuttle was to in-
clude Jordan, ‘Israel’ and Egypt.
ARAB REACTION AND US
CREDIBILITY
Murphy’s first stop was in Jordan
where he met with King Hussein and
other high-ranking Jordanian officials.
Upon arrival, Murphy said that the aim
of his trip was to «discuss prospects for
peace» in the area and bilateral rela-
tions. In a clearly insulting and forget-
about-it tone, Murphy said, «The US
does not see value in an international
conference» to discuss the Middle East
problem, thus reiterating the US stand
and echoing the Israeli one as well.
Both states reject an international con-
ference as a substitute for the direct
negotiations they insist upon. A few
days before Murphy’s visit, Israeli
prime Minister Shamir had stated that
‘Israel’ would not accept the principle
of an international conference, would
refuse exchanging the West Bank and
Gaza Strip for peace, and would not
sacrifice «one gram of its rights.»
Murphy’s visit had also been
preceded by active moves on the part of
Arab reaction. Egypt’s President
Mubarak had visited Jordan to coor-
dinate moves with King Hussein before
Murphy’s visit, the Islamic Conference
and Peres’ pending visit to Cairo. It is
worth noting the Mubarak’s political
adviser, Osama Al Baz, came back
from Tunis only hours before
Murphy’s visit to Cairo, having met
with the rightist PLO leadership.
Richard W. Murphy
Murphy’s next stop was ‘Israel’
where he met Shamir and Peres. Two
days later, Murphy returned to Jordan
to inform King Hussein of the results of
his talks with the Israeli leaders.
Murphy’s third (now fourth) stop
was Egypt where he met Mubarak and
other Egyptian officials. Murphy
described the talks as «very fruitful.»
Then, in a surprise move, Murphy
visited Saudi Arabia which was not on
his shuttle schedule, and met with King
Fahd and other high-level Saudi of-
ficials.
At the end of his visit, Murphy called
on all parties concerned, except the
Palestinians naturally, to pursue «quiet
diplomacy» in the region. This «quiet» -
diplomacy aims mainly at bringing
Jordan and ‘Israel’ closer together
through «quiet» negotiations that
would make «quiet» normalization a de
facto, before signing a formal treaty. In
the end, all this aims at a «quiet», or
rather capitulationist, settlement be-
tween ‘Israel’ and Jordan, without any
Palestinian national role. Naturally,
such a «quiet» procedure requires the
«quietening» of all objecting voices.
Thus, Murphy’s visit coincided with an
intense arrest campaign in Jordan, the
continuation of the Israeli iron fist
policy in occupied Palestine, and
stepped-up aggression against Palesti-
nians in Lebanon.
Murphy will resume his shuttling in
February, after the visits of Mubarak
and Shamir to Washington. This visit
was intended to achieve several aims.
One was repolishing the US’s image in
the eyes of Arab reaction. One can gage
the results in King Hussein’s interview
with Expresso magazine while visiting
Italy. Hussein said, «Washington has
to promote an initiative between the
Arabs and Israel if it wants to keep its
credibility.» Notice the word keep com-
ing from the same person who, when
‘Irangate’ first emerged, said that
«Washington’s credibility is
deteriorating.» Hussein’s statement
also relates to Murphy’s second goal
which was exploring the prospects for
pushing forward the US ‘solution’ in
the region. According to Peres, Mur-
phy’s mission met positive responses in
both Jordan and ‘Israel’. Another,
related aim of Murphy’s visit was
pushing for Egypt’s official return to
the Arab League, or at least improve-
ment in its relations with other Arab
countries. This was obviously ac-
complished at the ensuing Islamic
Conference. Last, but not least, Mur-
phy came to discuss Egypt’s debt pro-
blem.
21 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 22
- تاريخ
- مارس ١٩٨٧
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed