One of the most sickening aspects of Blair's role during the war on Iraq was the lie that he was tempering Bush's worst excesses by sticking up for the Palestinian people. But Blair remained criminally silent about the continuous killings of both Palestinians and western peace activists by the Israeli state.
The latest phase of the Middle East 'peace process", the so-called 'road map. defends the apartheid Israeli state and demands the utter humiliation of the Palestinians.
First, Yasser Arafat was ordered to cede power to a new President as a precondition for dealing with US imperialism and their Israeli friends. Mahmoud Abbas, also known ..• as Abu Mazen, from Ararat's Fatah wing of the PLO, was eventually installed.
Then, there was the question of a new cabinet. Abbas insisted on appointing Mohammed Dahlan to the powerful position of Interior Minister. Dahlan has made it clear that he is America's man by stating that he is willing to disarm the militias by force if necessary.
This worries Arafat, not because he is fond of Hamas and their friends, but because he is concerned that Abbas and Dahlan in powerful positions will lead to further growth of fundamentalism. He has been able to limit its growth to some extent since his return from exile because he is seen as the historic leader of the struggle of the Palestinian people.
The mainstream press has ... elected himself as a result of fraud. Bank. Uneasy companions: Abbas (left) with Arafat Blair and Bush's intervention as being about democracy. It is certainly true that the PLO is one of the most undemocratic liberation movements ever known - but who are the imperialist leaders to preach? Bush was only
In the meantime, the Israeli state has been using the fact that the eyes of the 40,000 world have been focused on Iraq to continue their theft of Palestinian land - this time through the building of a grotesque wall around the north-western part of the West
This is a massive project with 250 heavy- line. plant vehicles shifting huge quantities of earth along a line that at times snakes deep into the Occupied Territories. By the middle of April about 4 km had been erected, at a cost of $2m per km, including an 8-metre high concrete section - complete with massive watchtowers - around the Palestinian town of Qalqilya, with a population of
The town will only be accessible through a single Israeli checkpoint - which of course means that a lot of the time it will be completely cut off. Six villages will be entirely stranded between the wall and the Green
"Israel has chosen a clever time century government wants to see yet more Palestinians driven off the land
• • • ahead with this project", says Jamal Juma, who runs the Apartheid Wall campaign. based in Ramallah. "While everyone is thinking about the war in Iraq, Israel is working like crazy, with hundreds of men and machines laying the foundations and every few weeks changes being made in the plar in favour of the settlers over the indigenous Palestinian population".
The construction of the wall is a graphic indication of what Sharon means when he talks about a 'peace process'. The wall encloses some of the colonisers' settlements built on the most fertile land in the West Bank.
The Israeli government wants to see yet more Palestinians driven off the land that has been stolen from them for the last half