Peace After Lebanon
TomPaine.com, D.C. Helena Cobban August 22, 2006
Helena Cobban is the author of the Justworldnews.org blog, and writes a regular column on global affairs for The Christian Science Monitor.
President George W Bush says it is unacceptable to return to the status quo that preceded the recent war between Israel and Lebanon and that the “root causes” of that conflict need to be addressed I agree on both counts! But having studied the dynamics in the area for some 30 years longer than the president, I’d describe, quite differently, what was wrong before July 12 not to mention how the “root causes” need to be addressed.
What was wrong was the disgraceful failure of the United States to complete the task that it has monopolized for 32 years peacemaking betweens Arabs and Israelis What was wrong, too, was the intense partisanship that successive U.S administrations have shown with the constant connivance of Congress in favor of an Israel that over the past 39 years has illegally settled its own people onto large chunks of occupied territory and used disproportionate force to suppress, kill and threaten its neighbors.
So yes, let us please address these root causes! Let us speedily reconvene an international, all-party summit meeting committed to the conclusion of a sustainable final peace between Israel and, respectively, the Palestinians, Syria, and Lebanon I would hope the U.S would be part of this peacemaking, but it can no longer legitimately seek to dominate it. [more]