Democratic Palestine : 11 (ص 23)
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- Democratic Palestine : 11 (ص 23)
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Bright Star
1985
Since the beginning of the eighties,
the US has been conducting military
maneuvers in the Arab homeland under
different names (Bright Star and Wind of
the Sea) and in different locations.
These maneuvers have been carried out
by the Rapid Deployment Forces, in
conjunction with troops from the par-
ticipating Arab countries.
The striking feature of these year’s
maneuvers, which started in Egypt on
August 3rd, is their scale in terms of the
number of troops and _ countries
involved, and their timing. The Bright
Star 85 maneuvers have been con-
ducted simultaneously in Egypt,
Somalia, Jordan, ‘Israel’ and the Sulta-
nate of Oman. Oman’s participation was
however kept under the rug in order not
to anger its neighbors and stir their
objections to US military presence in the
area. Sudan, four months after
Numeiri’s overthrow, decided not to par-
ticipate to ward off domestic protest and
out of consideration for its neighbors,
Ethiopia and Libya. Thus, the Egyptian
regime lost a strategic ally.
In Egypt, the number of participat-
ing US troops reached the unpre-
cedented level of nine thousand sol-
diers. This surpasses the total number of
US troops that participated in Bright Star
81, Bright Star 82 and the Wind of the
Sea maneuvers, added together. For
the first time in the history of US man-
euvers in the area, there were drills and
operations in amphibious landing,
employment of offensive weaponry and
chemical warfare. It is noteworthy that
the very same US troops that took partin
Bright Star 85 in Egypt, carried out simi-
lar maneuvers in ‘Israel’ under the same
name.
The timing of Bright Star 85
Judging from the magnitude of
these maneuvers, they were intended to
Carry special weight. Obviously,
Washington wants to send = an
unequivocal message to the parties
involved in the Arab-Zionist conflict, as
well as to the Soviet Union. The timing of
the maneuvers coincides with acceler-
ated moves to broaden the base of the
Camp David process. On the Arab level,
this much talked about «peace» process
aircraft missile in Gallant Eagle ‘84 -US military
Sa aS $
is being promoted via the Amman
accord and Mubarak’s _ initiative.
Although the facade of this scenario is
Arab, the theme is American - joining US
solutions for the area. Holding the
emergency Arab summit on August 7th,
in Casablanca, was intended to confer
the blessing of Arab reactionary consen-
sus on the Amman accord, as a preface
to implementing it. Hence, the extensive
US muscle-flexing in the form of military
maneuvers aimed at bringing pressure
to bear on the Arab summiteers, to have
them go along with the US «peace»
plans. The Bright Star 85 maneuvers
also coincide with the visits of Murphy
and Whitehead to the Middle East.
These political and military moves stand
as anew reminder that Camp David was
never, aS purported, a peace pian, but
designed to insure imperialist domi-
nance in the area.
In relation to the international
arena, Bright Star 85 aimed to threaten
the Soviet Union, being conducted not
far from its southern borders. This is part
of Reagan’s overall anti-communist
crusade, and moreover intends to target
the social community's principled and
substantial aid to the Palestinian and
Arab liberation movement. The maneuv-
ers were conducted prior to the Reagan-
Gorbachev summit scheduled _ for
Geneva in the autumn. In this content,
they were designed to give the impres-
sion that the US has a free hand in the
Middle East and holds the key to solving
its problems. The maneuvers were
intended as concrete evidence that, in
the last analysis, the area is a US sphere
of influence. On this basis, the US will
continue trying to block the Soviet Union
from any meaningful role, for this would
strengthen the Arab/Palestinian side,
and prevent the US and ‘Israel’ from
imposing their views unilaterally. In line
with this, the US may try to avoid discus-
sion of the Middle East at the Geneva
summit or disarmament talks.
Message for the Arab
summiteers
The fact that the biggest maneuvers
were conducted on Egyptian soil shows
that, among the Arab states, the US
attaches greatest importance to Egypt.
The Egyptian regime being the only one
to have signed an accord with ‘Israel’,
the US views its role as pivotal in further-
ing the Camp David process to include
other Arab partners. The message for
the Casablanca summiteers was that
they should pay equal attention to the
Camp David regime, by restoring official
ties with it. It is evident that despite
Washington's spurious reservations vis-
a-vis Mubarak’s initiative and the joint
Jordanian-Palestinian moves, the US is
in fact quite interested in such moves
and encourages their continuation.
23
exercises simulating fighting in the Middle East.
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