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Through the so-called "roadmap" to peace, the US wants to derail the Palestinian struggle and strengthen its control over the Middle East

The US has many times "mediated" between Palestine and Israel, but instead of arriving at a resolution, the conflict that has been going on for more than half a century has further intensified. All past US initiatives failed because they did not resolve the very root of the problem � the Israeli occupation of, and aggression in, Palestine.

The US has no moral authority to mediate the conflict. The Palestinians are well aware that the US supports Israel. All previous "peace plans" presented by the US have been in favor of the occupation forces' interests. In all these measures, the US' sole aim was to bring Palestine to its knees and ensure the security and preservation of Israel, its most strategic ally in the Middle East.

Lately, the US has not even attempted to conceal its partiality towards Israel. Last year, the US congress passed a law recognizing the city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite the fact that Jerusalem remains one of the key contentious issues and caused the collapse of negotiations in 2000. This time, the US has set aside up to $55 billion in aid for Israel.

When a "final agreement" failed to materialize in September 2000, Israel stepped up its violent occupation of Palestinian territories. On the other side, the intifada erupted anew.

The US condemns as terrorism the Palestinians' legitimate and just armed struggle for self-determination, but has not said a single word over Israel's expansionism and violent acts in Palestine.

The US "roadmap"

The US is currently cooking up a new "peace plan" to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The US is more that ever compelled to find a solution to the conflict because it fears the intensification of anti-US sentiments in the Middle East due to its occupation of Iraq. The US hopes that in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Arab anger will subside, creating a more favorable situation for imperialist interests in the region.

The new plan has been dubbed a "roadmap" to peace in Palestine. The US dragged in the United Nations, the European Union and Russia and formed the so-called Quartet to finalize and deodorize the "roadmap" and use them to win over and pressure Palestine.

Like the US' past schemes, the solution proffered by the much-vaunted "roadmap" is a lopsided one. It imposes very onerous conditions on the recognition and establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

First of all, Palestinians must cease all armed attacks and suppress all the armed groups that are at the core of the Palestinian people's struggle. This makes it appear that Israel's violent acts are perpetrated in self-defense. The supposition is that Palestine can only achieve peace and independence if it puts a stop to armed struggle.

After weeks of coercion by the US and the Quartet, the Palestinian parliament approved the new government led by Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister. The US supports Abbas' appointment along with Mohammed Dahlan's as special minister for security affairs because both of them have expressed readiness to disarm armed militants to give way to the "roadmap."

Arafat has given his blessings to Abbas' appointment and those of others in the new PNA cabinet despite his earlier hesitancy regarding Dahlan's appointment. Nonetheless, Arafat will remain president of the PNA and will still play a decisive role in forming its basic policies and decisions.

Certain failure

Just hours after the new government was approved, a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated an explosive in the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv, killing three and wounding about 40 others.

The militant groups Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the bombing. They said that they will never lay down their arms as long as there is no solution to the conflict. "We will hit the Zionist enemy in all corners of Palestine until the occupation ends," added the Hamas spokesperson.

Hamas has pointedly rejected the US' "roadmap." "This is a plan to liquidate the Palestinian cause," said its leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

This merely shows that there will be no end to the Palestinians' intense anger and their armed struggle until Israel is expelled and a truly free Palestinian state is established.

Armed and unarmed resistance by the Palestinians and all the Arab people will definitely rock the US-Israeli conspiracy and imperialist rule in the Middle East. The road to peace in Palestine and in the entire region is undoubtedly more complicated than any "roadmap" laid out by the imperialists.

07 May 2003
English Edition

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