After initially stating he was “troubled” by the Israeli helicopter gunship attacks, U.S. president George Bush labeled Hamas as the principle obstacle in front of the “road map for peace.” White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer said June 12 that “the issue is Hamas. The terrorists are Hamas.”

The summit in Aqaba, Jordan, attended by Bush, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, and Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas had endorsed the so-called road map initiated by Washington, with the backing of the European Union (EU), Moscow, and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. The plan projects the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on the condition that the Palestinian Authority (PA) suppresses organizations fighting for Palestinian self-determination that Washington and Tel Aviv label “terrorist.”

Tel Aviv made minor initial concessions to the Palestinians—beginning to close a dozen largely uninhabited settlement outposts in the occupied territories, and releasing 100 of the more than 5,000 Palestinians it holds in jail—in order to align itself with Washington to pursue common objectives in the region. These shared goals by the Israeli and U.S. rulers include preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons and pursuing “regime change” in Iran, as well as rolling up the Lebanese-based group Hezbollah, which is backed by the Iranian government, and Hamas.

Soon after the Aqaba summit, the Hamas leadership denounced the agreement and ended cease-fire talks with Abbas. On June 8, Hamas took responsibility for an attack on an Israeli army checkpoint at the Erez crossing from Gaza into Israel. Hamas militants carried out that assault jointly with two other groups, Islamic Jihad and the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade, killing four Israeli soldiers. Hamas also subsequently claimed responsibility for other armed actions in Israel, including a June 11 suicide bombing attack on a Jerusalem bus that killed 17.

Like Hezbollah, Hamas has taken responsibility repeatedly for such armed actions against Zionist targets in Israel and the occupied territories. The group continues to call for the destruction of the state of Israel and is for the establishment of what it describes as an Islamic republic.

In what has become a central feature of Israeli assaults, Tel Aviv used helicopter gunships June 12 to fire at least six missiles at a car in the Gaza Strip, killing Hamas official Yasir Taha. Also killed in the Israeli assassination operation were Taha’s wife, three-year-old daughter, and four others on the street. A June 9 helicopter assault targeting another Hamas leader, Abdel-Aziz Rantisi, only wounded the intended victim. Tel Aviv defended its longstanding policy of assassination attempts against leaders of “terrorist” groups. Foreign ministry official Gideon Meir’s only regret the next day was that “unfortunately, we missed” the target.

Washington is promoting newly appointed Palestinian prime minister Abbas as an asset in its campaign to push the Aqaba plan. In his remarks condemning attacks by Hamas on Israel, Bush made a point of singling out Abbas as one who agrees with the White House plan for a “peaceful [Palestinian] state, living side-by-side with Israel.” U.S. officials view “the appointment of Mr. Abbas and the de facto marginalization of Yasir Arafat,” the Financial Times reported June 11, as “the single most important reason to hope for progress.” Arafat remains the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and Gaza, but he has been confined to his headquarters in Ramallah for the last two years because of Israeli army restrictions imposed on his movements. Both Washington and Tel Aviv have stated explicitly they will not negotiate with the Palestinians if Arafat is at the table.

Abbas has stated that the PA is “not going to outlaw anyone” or use force against other Palestinian groups. Other Palestinian officials say they are trying to convince all the parties to accept the Aqaba agreement and that the PA aims to “include Hamas in the system.” Both Abbas and Arafat denounced the Hamas bombing of a Jerusalem bus as well as Tel Aviv’s attacks on Hamas leaders as “terrorist operations.”

Tel Aviv seems to share Washington’s assessment of the new Palestinian prime minister. The Israeli rulers are carrying out their war against Hamas while the PA does no more than issue statements protesting Israeli army actions. The Palestinian Authority has not organized any mobilizations of Palestinians in response to the latest Israeli air raids in Gaza. Nor has it ordered the police force under its command into battle against the Israeli incursions into territory nominally under its “control,” as it has done at times in the past.

At a June 12 Israeli cabinet meeting, Sharon described Abbas as “a chick who has still not grown his feathers,” the Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported. He said Tel Aviv will take the lead in the military campaign against Hamas until the Palestinian leader “grows feathers.”

The repeated army attacks on Palestinians in Gaza have encouraged some Israelis to take action against individual Palestinians. On June 11 about 100 Zionist protesters entered a Jerusalem market to attack Arab workers there; others gathered at Zion Square striking at Palestinians on their way home to the predominantly Arab eastern portion of the city.

Faced with a possible breakdown of the façade of Washington’s “peace” plan, the editors of London’s Financial Times asserted June 13 that the first step in kick-starting the road map is for Abbas to “establish a monopoly of violence” in the West Bank and Gaza.

In a letter to Bush, Virginia Republican John Warner, chairperson of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, urged the dispatch of a “peacekeeping” force under NATO command to the occupied territories to reinforce Washington’s objectives there. U.S. and Israeli government officials dismissed the idea. Washington is planning another summit in Aqaba in late June—including representatives of the European Union, the United Nations, and Moscow this time—to continue its efforts to push ahead with the U.S.-initiated plan.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home